Extensional behavior of rod suspension in dilute polymer solution

Extensional viscosity of rod particle suspensions in polymer solutions is studied experimentally. Rod particle suspensions were prepared by dispersing FeOOH rods in polyacrylamide (molecular weight of 5-6 M) solutions in a glycerin-water mixture. The diameter of rod particles was 100 nm and the aspect ratio was 4.3, 8.7 and 15.6. Particle volume fraction was 0.005-0.02. The extensional viscosity was measured by the capillary thinning method using the commercially available CaBER. Under the experimental condition both the polymer solution and particle suspensions are dilute. Particle-particle interaction is neglected in the solutions which are stretched by the extensional flow at the bulk. The result shows that extensional viscosity of the rod suspension in polymer solution decreases with the increase in particle volume fraction. The decrease is ascribed to the change in polymer conformation from the stretched state in the bulk flow to the less stretched state in shear flow developed near the particle to match the no-slip condition at the particle surface.