Delayed yielding in creep, time–stress superposition and effective time theory for a soft glass

In this work we investigate creep flow of aqueous suspension of Laponite, a model soft glassy material, at different aging times and stresses. We observe that this system shows time—aging time—stress superposition over a range of aging times and stresses when a real time scale is transformed into an effective time scale. Existence of superposition in an effective time domain facilitates prediction of long and very short time rheological behavior. Analysis of the observed behavior from an effective time approach suggests that superposition is possible only when the shape of a relaxation time spectrum is preserved at various aging times and stresses. We also observe that creep curves at low aging times and greater stresses demonstrate delayed but sudden yielding. The critical time, at which material yields, increases with increase in aging time and decrease in stress. We argue that local rejuvenation of part of the glassy material causes variation in the rate of evolution of relaxation modes. The resulting interplay between aging and rejuvenating modes leads to delayed yielding as observed experimentally.