Abstract
Rheology of colloidal suspensions is of considerable interest for scientific as well as technological reasons. The nature of interparticle interactions determines the colloidal structure and hence the flow behavior of suspensions. There has been much interest in controlling the colloidal rheology through altering the interparticle forces. By introducing smaller particles into a suspension of large colloidal particles, the pressure of the small particles produces an additional attractive force between the colloids. This is referred to as the depletion force. [1] Existing experimental studies have demonstrated the profound influence of depletion forces on the deformation behavior of colloidal suspensions. [2] The goal of this project is to carry out an x-ray photon correlation spectroscopy (XPCS) study to understand the dynamical perspective of this phenomenon.
