Deformation and break-up of suspension droplets sheared in an immiscible fluid
Résumé
The deformation and break-up behaviour of suspension droplets immersed in an immiscible fluid has not been widely studied albeit such systems are frequently encountered in every day multiphase products such as foods and cosmetics. Starch is a common thickener used in the food industry. Starch suspensions have shown to offer better flavour perception than polymer thickened solutions; a better understanding of their behaviour under flow would be beneficial in terms of advancement on product formulation. Deformation and break-up of a droplet of swollen-in-water starch granules placed in high viscosity silicon oil was visualised using a counter-rotating parallel-plate shear cell. The silicon oil had a high viscosity to induce shear stresses high enough to deform the droplet; it is also transparent and inert towards the studied system. The starch suspension was prepared to have a volume fraction of 100% swollen granules, i.e. that all water was bound within the swollen starch granules. The shear flow behaviour of this starch suspension is characterised by an apparent yield stress, shear-thinning and first normal stress differences. The rheo-optical experiments were conducted as start-up flow experiments applying shear stresses above the apparent yield stress. A constant shear stress throughout the experiment allows a constant viscosity of the droplet and therefore rules out the shear thinning aspect. Analysis showed droplet break-up at critical Capillary numbers close to those reported for Newtonian fluids. The results demonstrate that the droplet break-up behaviour in a complex emulsion system submitted to shear flow may not be fully described by the rheology of the individual phases alone but may require a microstructure component.