The work at ETH Zurich represents a combined e ort of the labs of Profs. Lucio Isa and
Jan Vermant, with C. Hsu (graduated in 2020), V. Niggel, F. Muller, and P. Lehercy
(all started in 2020) being the graduate students involved. Our goals within the IFPRI
project and more globally within our groups are threefold
1. To explore how, moving away from model systems containing spherical colloids
with near hard interactions, we can widen the range of rheological responses by
changing the properties of the building blocks of the suspensions, so that even in
simple formulations a wide range of behaviors can be `built in", i.e. obtaining
formulation guidelines to do \more with less" or simplifying formulations from
within. The properties aimed for, after discussing with IFPRI members, are the
control of shear thickening and the control of the thixotropic response.
2. To further develop a limited number of rheological and structural tools to interrogate
the rheological response of the such dispersions, focusing on
• Advanced rheological methods which allow for stress deconvolution such as
high frequency rheometry and superposition rheometry, which help identify
the nature of the stress during ow (elastic or viscous), which helps to identify
which aspect of the particles or formulation controls the rheology
• High resolution confocal microscopy to probe structural development in situ
during ow (4D imaging)
• Local scale tribological measurements using AFM.
3. Apply these methods to simpli ed industrial dispersion by industrial partners and
compare with the formulation guidelines obtained from (1).