Two step yielding in soft materials

• Published in: Advances in colloid and interface science Vol. 282; p. 102179
• Main Authors: Ahuja, Amit, Potanin, Andrei, Joshi, Yogesh M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01.08.2020
• Subjects: Attractive glass; Colloidal gels; LAOS; Structure-property; Two-step yielding; LAOS; Attractive glass; Structure-property; Two-step yielding; Colloidal gels
• ISSN: 0001-8686; 1873-3727
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cis.2020.102179

A review is presented on the topic of two-step yielding observed in complex fluids that cover a broad variety of materials ranging from colloidal gels, attractive glasses, emulsions, suspensions, and several commercial paste-like materials. The common features in various systems displaying two-step yielding behavior are the presence of two characteristic forces between the interacting particles or two varying representative length or time scales. This focused review aims to provide physical insights, mechanistic understanding of the two-step yielding and other associated rheological consequences of this nonlinear behavior. A discussion is provided on the microstructural details with an overview of different experimental systems exhibiting double-yielding studied so far highlighting the similarities and differences among them. Particularly, the effects of continuous phase properties, dispersed particle phase factors (size, shape, softness and surface charge) and external force field (electric, magnetic, thermal and shear flows) on two-step yielding are considered. [Display omitted] •Two-step yielding is common is many structurally arrested soft materials.•Such behavior is observed despite very different microstructures in these systems.•Materials exhibiting two-step yielding have two characteristic length scales.•Nature of corresponding microstructure governs characteristics of yielding behavior.