Abstract
We attribute similarities in the rheology of many soft materials (foams, emulsions, slurries, etc.) to the shared features of structural disorder and metastability. A generic model for the mesoscopic dynamics of “soft glassy matter” is introduced, with interactions represented by a mean-field noise temperature . We find power-law fluid behavior either with or without a yield stress. For , both storage and loss modulus vary with frequency as , becoming flat near a glass transition . Values of may result from marginal dynamics as seen in some spin glass models.
- Received 2 December 1996
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.78.2020
©1997 American Physical Society