CRYSTALLIZATION OF MACROSCOPIC SUSPENSIONS UNDER SHEAR - INFLUENCE OF PARTICLE-SIZE DISTRIBUTION

Hydrodynamic <<crystallization>> observed in monodisperse macroscopic suspensions under shear is greatly disturbed by the introduction of a second particle species with a particle size ratio of 1/2 and in equal volume fraction: no binary pattern or segregation occurs but the bidisperse suspension becomes amorphous. The formation of an amorphous structure is more efficient with this bidisperse distribution than with a polydisperse one. The viscosity measurements obtained are somewhat different from those usually found, as the structuration effect balances the packing-fraction effect.