Domaines
Soft matter
Type of internship
Expérimental et théorique Description
Emerging efforts at reducing water consumption in water-based industrial processes have led
to an increased use of foams as a carrier in replacement of plain water in which particles or
drops are dispersed. Yet, this use of foams, which consists in dispersion of bubbles in a liquid
stabilized with surfactants, requires to revisit their behavior under flow when they contain
particles or drops. In this framework, the case of fibers being dispersed in foams is of
particular interest because strong anisotropic effects are expected under flow. Indeed,
viscous shear is likely to orient the fibers in the flow direction, leading to anisotropic effects.
In this internship, we aim at measuring the structural and rheological response of foams
containing fibers under shear. To do so, several experimental configurations will be studied
and compared. (i) Classical rheology measurement between plates or coaxial cylinders. (ii)
Flows in millifluidics. In both cases, we will couple the rheological measurement with direct
visualization.
Several physical-chemical parameters will be used to gain insights into the behavior of the
system : the fiber and gas volume fractions, the amount of surfactant, the viscosity of the
continuous phase, the fiber length.
Contact
Emilie VERNEUIL