Residual stresses and shear-induced overaging in boehmite gels

Abstract

Colloidal gels respond like soft solids at rest, whereas they flow like liquids under external shear. Starting from a fluidized state under an applied shear rate $\dotγ_{p}$, abrupt flow cessation triggers a liquid-to-solid transition during which the stress relaxes towards a so-called \textit{residual stress} $σ_{\rm res}$ that tallies a macroscopic signature of previous shear history. Here, we report on the liquid-to-solid transition in gels of boehmite, an aluminum oxide, that shows a remarkable non-monotonic stress relaxation towards a residual stress $σ_{\rm res}(\dotγ_{p})$ characterized by a dual behavior relative to a critical value $\dotγ_{c}$ of the shear rate $\dotγ_{p}$. Following shear at $\dotγ_{p}>\dotγ_{c}$, the gel obtained upon flow cessation is insensitive to shear history, and the residual stress is negligible. However, for $\dotγ_{p}<\dotγ_{c}$, the gel encodes some memory of the shear history, and $σ_{\rm res}$ increases for decreasing shear rate, directly contributing to reinforcing the gel viscoelastic properties. Moreover, we show that both $σ_{\rm res}$ and the gel viscoelastic properties increase logarithmically with the strain accumulated during the shear period preceding flow cessation. Such a shear-induced "overaging" phenomenon bears great potential for tuning the rheological properties of colloidal gels.