Volume 26, Issue 5

During mixing of wheat flour doughs, the distribution of the gluten network changes as a result of continuously applied large deformations. Especially gliadin, changes its distribution in the whole network during mixing. It is possible to fundamentally explain the role of molecular changes in more detail using large amplitude oscillatory measurements (LAOS) in the non-linear region. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to understand the effect of mixing on the non-linear fundamental rheological behavior of soft wheat flour dough using LAOS. Dough samples were obtained at 4 different phases of the Farinograph mixing and LAOS tests were done on each of them. LAOS tets give in depth intracycle understanding of rheology. All samples showed strain stiffening S and shear thinning T behavior at large strains previously not known in the cereal rheology community. Increasing mixing time (phase 1 to phase 4) and decreasing frequency resulted in retardation in the break of strain stiffening as strain increases. The strain stiffening behavior started to decrease for the dough samples at the 3rd and the 4th phases of mixing. LAOS data enabled us to describe the non-linear rheological changes occurring both in the viscous part largely attributed to the starch matrix and elastic part largely attributed to the gluten network components of the soft wheat flour dough under large deformations.

This work presents a simple, scalar model for predicting a nonlinear shear stress response of a viscoelastic fluid in Large Amplitude Oscillatory Shear (LAOS) experiments. The model is constructed by replacing the viscosity in the well-known Maxwell model by a shear rate dependent viscosity function. By assuming the empirical Cox-Merz rule to be valid, this shear rate dependent viscosity function is specified based on the Maxwell expression for the complex viscosity. We thus construct a particular case of the White-Metzner constitutive equation. Numerical solutions as well as an asymptotic analytical solution of the model are presented. The results, analyzed for higher harmonic content by Fourier transform, are compared to experimental data of a viscoelastic solution of wormlike micelles based on cetyltrimethylammonium bromide. Good agreement is found for low frequencies, where viscous properties dominate.

The main objectives of this paper are to (i) study the rutting performance of asphalt binders modified with styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) copolymer, polyphosphoric acid (PPA) and SBR+PPA, (ii) quantify the percent recoveries R and the nonrecoverable compliances J nr in the multiple stress creep and recovery (MSCR) test, and (iii) indicate the best formulations in terms of rutting performance. All these formulations have the same high-temperature performance grade in the Superpave ® specification (PG 76-xx). The Burgers model was used to fit the laboratory data and the parameter G V was obtained from the model. The degrees of improvement in the R and the J nr values after binder modification are higher for the AC+SBR+PPA and the AC+PPA than for the AC+SBR and the results are slightly better for the AC+SBR+PPA. The use of longer creep and recovery times led to increases in the stress sensitivity of the modified asphalt binders and in their rutting potential (higher J nr values and lower R values) and these effects are more pronounced for the AC+SBR. The AC+SBR+PPA was identified as the best formulation in terms of elastic response and susceptibility to rutting, followed by the AC+PPA and the AC+SBR.

While shear thickening is a well-known feature of some polymer solutions, its observation in the absence of a clear specific chemical or structural mechanism and at very low rates of shear (ỳ 0.1< s -1 ) in our own data, as well as in several polymer systems in the literature, has prompted further investigation. Using the rheologically-reproducible and commercially available dysphagia product Resource Thicken Up Clear (produced by Nestle Health Science) as a canonical demonstration fluid, we show that the observation of a local maximum in the steady shear viscosity at very low shear rates can be completely attributed to the sample not having reached steady state conditions, and correspondingly, to the measurement not having been performed in steady simple shear flow. We propose two criteria to ensure equilibration during steady state flow rheological measurements: a substantial increase in the measurement time allotted for each point such that the total material strain accumulated in the sample is allowed to reach y =ỳt < 5 and/or a stricter convergence criterion of 10 consecutive readings within a tolerance of 1%.