Research

Contrary to popular knowledge, most materials around us, from foods, biological materials, adhesives, cosmetics, concrete, paints, polymers etc., natural or man-made are neither simple fluids nor solids, see figure below. Rather, their behavior is a combination of both (e.g. they are rheologically complex). The framework to study all such complex materials is Rheology, defined as the science of flow and deformation of matter. All biological matter is rheologically-complex matter, from fluid-like such as blood, saliva, bile, synovial fluid, mucus to more solid-like such as cartilage and bone.

Rheology is unique among analytical techniques in materials science because it can probe material structure in 'out-of-equilibrium' states, i.e. flow induced. This takes rheology as an analytical technique towards processing through flow and morphological control therewith. The processing of soft matter into products typically involves rheologically complex fluids in complex flow configurations. Thus, understanding field–matter interactions in relation to fundamental rheological properties is essential for obtaining products with favorable performance through processing.

Four pillars

Our research is based around four closely-related main pillars: (i) Field–matter interaction / method development, (ii) Multiscale analysis and control (meaning structuring), (iii) Soft and Biomatter, and (iv) Multifunctional properties.