GT70 - Abstract Preview
GT70
Symposium: S01 - General Session
Poster Presentation
 
 

Confined tube flow of polymer blends. Effect of matrix elasticity

Preziosi V. (1), Tomaiuolo G. (1), Fenizia M. (1), Caserta S. (1), Guido S. (1)*

(1) Dip. di Ing. Chimica, dei Materiali e della Produzione Industriale- Univ. di Napoli Federico II - Napoli - Italy

This work is addressed to the effect of the elasticity of the continuous phase on confined tube flow of polymer blends. A Newtonian silicon oil was used as the dispersed phase, while three different water-based fluids, a Newtonian and two Boger fluids, were used as the continuous phase. Polymer blends were prepared by feeding the two phases to a T-junction followed by a membrane. High-speed microscopy visualization of the polymer blends flowing through a microcapillary allowed one to determine the velocity profiles and the droplet spatial distribution as a function of the shear rate. The formation of a droplet-rich core and of a droplet-devoid wall region was observed in all cases, with a significant enhancement when the continuous phase was a Boger fluid. The observed non-homogeneous drop spatial distribution was not due to an entry effect, as shown by flow visualization at different sections from the capillary inlet, but can be explained by a balance between collision-induced drop diffusion and wall lift force. The former acts to uniform drop spatial distribution, while the latter tends to push drops away from the wall and is enhanced by matrix elasticity. The velocity profiles for the Boger continuous phase were flat in the droplet-rich core, thus suggesting that the confined polymer blends behave as a Bingham fluid. Overall, the results of this work show strong analogies with the confined flow of other concentrated suspensions of deformable particles, such as red blood cells in microcirculation, where the formation of a cell-free layer at the wall, which is referred to as margination, has also bee reported.