Shear-induced displacement of isotropic-nematic spinodals

The shear dependent location of the isotropic-nematic spinodals in suspensions of bacteriophage fd is studied by means of time resolved birefringence experiments. The hysteresis in the birefringence on increasing and subsequently decreasing the shear-rate allows the determination of the location of points in the shear-rate vs concentration phase diagram between the isotropic-to-nematic and the nematic-to-isotropic spinodals. Experimental hysteresis curves are interpreted on the basis of an equation of motion for the orientational order parameter tensor, as derived from the N-particle Smoluchowski equation. The spinodals are found to shift to lower concentrations on increasing the shear-rate. Above a critical shear-rate, where shear forces dominate over thermodynamic forces, no spinodal instability could be detected.