Deuterium NMR Study of Slow Relaxation Dynamics in a Polymer-like Micelles System after Flow-Induced Orientation

Non-Newtonian Behaviors of Crumb Rubber-Modified Bituminous Binders

Crumb rubber-modified bitumen (CRMB) has been utilized in the asphalt paving industry for decades due to its various benefits. The complex interaction between bitumen and crumb rubber as well as the addition of warm-mix additives makes the typical laws of Newtonian fluids insufficient to describe the behaviors of highly modified bituminous binders. To systematically explore the non-Newtonian behaviors of CRMB, a dynamic shear rheometer was utilized to apply shear loading on the samples at various temperatures and shear rates. Results show that the viscosity of different binders are highly temperature- and shear rate-dependent, while highly modified binders exhibit more obvious shear-thinning behaviors at certain temperatures. With the help of zero shear viscosity and yield stress, the shear-thinning behaviors of non-Newtonian binders can be sufficiently characterized. The Arrhenius equation is invalid to describe viscosity-temperature characteristics of bitumen in the non-Newtonian region. A second-order polynomial function was proposed to characterize the viscosity-temperature dependence with a high correlation degree.

Flow-induced structures observed in a viscoelastic reverse wormlike micellar system by magnetic resonance imaging and NMR velocimetry

Organogel formed by lecithin reverse wormlike micelles in the isotropic concentrated regime exhibits flow induced micro-heterogeneities detected by rheo-NMR and NMR-velocimetry.

Phase behavior of the lecithin/water/isooctane and lecithin/water/decane systems

The isothermal pseudo-ternary-phase diagram was determined at 25 degrees C for systems composed oflecithin, water, and, as oil, either isooctane or decane. This was accomplished by a combination of polarizing microscopy, small-angle X-ray scattering, and NMR techniques. The lecithin-rich region of the phase diagram is dominated by a lamellar liquid-crystalline phase (Lalpha). For lecithin contents less than 60% and low hydration (mole ratio water/lecithin = W0 < 5.5), the system forms a viscous gel of branched cylindrical reverse micelles. With increase in the water content, the system phase separates into two phases, which is either gel in equilibrium with essentially pure isooctane (for lecithin < 25%) or a gel in equilibrium with Lalpha (for lecithin > 25%). These two-phase regions are very thin with respect to water dilution. For 8 < W0 < 54 very stable water-in-oil emulsions form. It is only after ripening for more than 1 year that the large region occupied by the emulsion reveals a complex pattern of stable phases. Moving along water dilution lines, one finds (i) the coexistence of gel, isooctane and Lalpha, (ii) equilibrium between reverse micelles and spherulites, and, finally, (iii) disconnected reverse micelles that fail to solubilize water for W0 > 54. This results in a Winsor II phase equilibrium at low lecithin content, while for lecithin > 20% the neat water is in equilibrium with a reverse hexagonal phase and an isotropic liquid-crystalline phase. The use of the decane as oil does not change the main features of the phase behavior.