Abstract
We investigate colloidal suspensions under shear flow through numerical experiments. By measuring the time-correlation function of a bond-orientational order parameter, we find a divergent time scale near a transition point from a disordered fluid phase to an ordered fluid phase, where the order is characterized by a nonzero value of the bond-orientational order parameter. We also present a phase diagram in the plane, where is the density of the colloidal particles and is the shear rate of the solvent. The transition line in the phase diagram terminates at the equilibrium transition point, while a critical region near the transition line vanishes continuously as .
- Received 7 October 2010
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.83.020401
©2011 American Physical Society