WHAT ARE THE NON-NEWTONIAN LIQUIDS?

– Computer Aided Design & The 118 Elements 10/31/23, 03:42

Computer Aided Design & The 118 Elements

by Florin FODOR

WHAT ARE THE NON-

NEWTONIAN LIQUIDS?

NON-NEWTONIANLIQU

Asphalt Lava MoltenMeta

Blood
Sperm
If matter is exposed to an external force such as shear stress also
Toothpaste
influenced by temperature and pressure, it tends to either have a
plastic deformation or starts to flow. The volume of matter which
continuously changes its shape under the influence of any force or
stress, it flows and the substance is called fluid.

A fluid is therefore a substance that flows under the influence of shear

Glue
forces. Liquids, gases, and plasmas are all examples of fluids.WhippedCream
Cornflourandwater Plastic
solids are also considered fluids to some extent. The shear modulus of

https://americanbobcat.blog/2023/08/02/what-are-the-non-newtonian-liquids/ Page 1 of 10
WHAT ARE THE NON-NEWTONIAN LIQUIDS? – Computer Aided Design & The 118 Elements 10/31/23, 03:42

fluid is zero, which means such substances cannot resist any force.
Different substance flow at different speed is shown in Fig. 1.

When Sir Isaac Newton used for the first time in 1687 a differential
equation establishing the mathematical relationship between viscosity,
shear stress and strain he discovered that for a given temperature and
pressure condition the fluid matter (gas and liquid) flow with a
constant viscosity regardless of external force applied, such as stirring
or mixing. The fluid flow behavior remains the same. Therefore
Newton established this equation of constant viscosity of fluids which
we now call Newton’s Law of Viscosity and all fluids obeying
Newton’s law are considered Newtonian Fluids (many liquids and
most gases). Mathematically this equation is:

https://americanbobcat.blog/2023/08/02/what-are-the-non-newtonian-liquids/ Page 2 of 10
WHAT ARE THE NON-NEWTONIAN LIQUIDS? – Computer Aided Design & The 118 Elements 10/31/23, 03:42

Yet Newton was partially right because not all fluids behave according
to his law. There are cases when the fluids do not follow Newton’s law
of constant viscosity; instead they have variable viscosity and variable
relationship with shear stress in the same pressure and temperature
condition like Newtonian fluids. These fluids are called NON-
NEWTONIAN. If water or air (both being Newtonian fluids) exhibited
these properties, runners and swimmers would find the surroundings
thickening around them as they attempted to move faster.

Liquids with constant viscosity at a given temperature and pressure,

known as Newtonian liquids, are incompressible. This means that they
exhibit a negligible change under pressure. On the other hand the
Non-Newtonian liquids under the same circumstances will tend to
become either thicker or thinner, they can be compressible.

Non-Newtonian fluids can also change in density when exposed to

extreme temperatures, which can lead to an increase or decrease in
viscosity. A fluid that has changed viscosity through one of these
methods will still show a linear relationship between viscosity and
shear stress. In case of liquids, with the change in viscosity under force,

https://americanbobcat.blog/2023/08/02/what-are-the-non-newtonian-liquids/ Page 3 of 10
WHAT ARE THE NON-NEWTONIAN LIQUIDS? – Computer Aided Design & The 118 Elements 10/31/23, 03:42

the substance become either more liquid or more solid. Therefore

unlike Newtonian liquids, such as water, the viscosity of non-
Newtonian fluids varies, depending on the force applied. For example,
a cornflour and water mixture becomes thicker when a large force is
applied, so a ball dropped into it from a great height will bounce off
the surface while one dropped from a low height will sink.

Non Newtonian fluids are mostly liquids; however in some rare cases
there are also gases that have non-newtonian behavior (such as
superfluid Helium in its very rare isotope 3He).

According to their behavior under shear stress, the Non-Newtonian

fluids add 4 sub-categories of viscosity to the main 2 categories (a.k.a.
dynamic and kinematic viscosity as briefly introduced in my article
about Newtonian Liquids). These 4 sub-categories are: Dilatant
viscosity, Pseudoplastic viscosity, Rheopectic viscosity, Thixotropic
viscosity.

Also important to be taken into considertion is the Bingham Plastic

state which is a special case of liquids as an intermediate state between
newtonian and non-newtonian state.

https://americanbobcat.blog/2023/08/02/what-are-the-non-newtonian-liquids/ Page 4 of 10
WHAT ARE THE NON-NEWTONIAN LIQUIDS? – Computer Aided Design & The 118 Elements 10/31/23, 03:42

DILATANT FLUIDS

Dilatant fluids, also known as shear thickening fluids, are liquids or

solutions whose viscosity increases as stress is applied. (see graph in
Fig. 4). These fluids tend to get more viscous and thicker and flow with
greater difficulty with increasing shear stress and flow. This means that
(some) dilatant fluids have the unique property of being able to turn
from liquid to a solid just by having stress applied. Dilatancy is not
time dependent. Dilatant materials’ viscosity increases only with an
increase in stress.

Solutes in dilatant solutions increase in volume when sheared. Yet

when the stress is removed, the dilatant system returns to its original
state of fluidity. Dilatant suspensions can be poured from a bottle,

https://americanbobcat.blog/2023/08/02/what-are-the-non-newtonian-liquids/ Page 5 of 10
WHAT ARE THE NON-NEWTONIAN LIQUIDS? – Computer Aided Design & The 118 Elements 10/31/23, 03:42

since these are reasonably fluid under these conditions.

There are not as many natural dilatants, although certain proportions

of sand and water mixed together can display dilatant properties. For
example at a beach, if you stand on the wet sand, your feet will sink in
slightly, but if you run across the sand (thus applying greater stress to
it), it will behave as a solid and your feet will not sink in.

Instead a dilatant fluid can easily artificially be made by making a 2:1

mixture like for instance of cornflour and water. It is a liquid, but
when stirred it becomes thicker and more difficult to stir. If hit with a
hammer, it will shatter like a brittle solid; but if left it will return to a
liquid.

+ CORNFLOURI +
Bowl Water Cornflour Spoon

Oobleck Eggs
Bananacusta

+ &

Banana

nostress=liquid PSEUDOPLASTIC FLUIDS

stress=solid FIGURE5
Pseudoplastic flow exhibits the behavior of both Newtonian flow and
plastic flow. In the process of pseudoplastic flow, the liquid tends to
flow as plastic at high shear rates. However, it does not have a yield
point, and therefore, it will always flow under the shear stress similar
to a Newtonian liquid. Pseudoplastic is the opposite of dilatant; the
more shear applied, the less viscous it becomes. Thus, these fluids tend
https://americanbobcat.blog/2023/08/02/what-are-the-non-newtonian-liquids/ Page 6 of 10
WHAT ARE THE NON-NEWTONIAN LIQUIDS? – Computer Aided Design & The 118 Elements 10/31/23, 03:42

to flow more easily with increasing shear stress and flow and are thus
called shear-thinning fluids. Pseudoplasticity is also not time
dependent. A common example of pseudoplastic behavior is blood.
Wall paint is also an example of a shear-thinning fluid or pseudoplastic
fluid: When applying paint to a surface, it should flow easily off the
brush but not drip excessively.

A large number of pharmaceutical products, including natural and

synthetic gums (e.g., liquid dispersions of tragacanth, sodium alginate,
methyl cellulose, and sodium carboxymethylcellulose), exhibit
pseudoplastic flow properties. Linear polymers (such as Teflon of
polypropylene) in solution exhibit pseudoplastic flow.

RHEOPECTIC FLUIDS

https://americanbobcat.blog/2023/08/02/what-are-the-non-newtonian-liquids/ Page 7 of 10
WHAT ARE THE NON-NEWTONIAN LIQUIDS? – Computer Aided Design & The 118 Elements 10/31/23, 03:42

Rheopectic is very similar to dilatant in that when shear is applied,

viscosity increases. The difference here is that viscosity increase is
time-dependent. These fluids are a rare class of non-Newtonian fluids.
Also, they show an increased viscosity upon agitation. That means,
when the fluid is shaken, it becomes thick, or it may even solidify.
Moreover, higher the shear stress, more viscous that fluid becomes. It
is because the microstructure of these rheopectic fluids is constructed
under continuous shearing. Therefore, it is named as shear-induced
crystallization. Some common examples of rheopectic fluids an
example of a substance that displays rheopecty is cream; which
becomes stiff only after prolonged beating.

Some other examples include gypsum pastes, printer ink, lubricants,

etc.

THIXOTROPIC FLUIDS

Similar with pseudoplastic fluids, fluids with thixotropic properties

decrease in viscosity when shear is applied. The difference is that this
type of viscosity is a time-dependent property. When exposed to a
steep change in shear rate, a thixotropic fluid needs a finite amount of
time to reach equilibrium viscosity. Therefore, the longer the fluid goes
under shear stress, lower the viscosity of the fluid becomes.

Thixotropy is the tendency of a fluid to stay where it is. Thixotropy is

created by adding specific agents to materials to help them resist flow,
sag, and dripping. This property is what allows adhesives to be
https://americanbobcat.blog/2023/08/02/what-are-the-non-newtonian-liquids/ Page 8 of 10
WHAT ARE THE NON-NEWTONIAN LIQUIDS? – Computer Aided Design & The 118 Elements 10/31/23, 03:43

applied vertically, or even upside-down without moving or falling off

the surface. For instance, the thixotropy of Plexus structural adhesives
is what is responsible for their superior gap-filling properties in large
bond lines. Thixotropy is also affected by temperature, but in a way
that for some types of adhesive may be opposite to viscosity.

Some common examples of thixotropic fluids include cytoplasm of

cells, synovial fluid, some varieties of honey, some types of clay, solder
pastes in electronics, thread-locking fluids, gelatin, xanthan gum, etc.

BINGHAM PLASTIC

An exception to the rule is Bingham plastics, which are fluids that require a
minimum stress to be applied before they flow. These are strictly non-
Newtonian, but once the flow starts they behave essentially as Newtonian
fluids (i.e. shear stress is linear with shear rate). Bingham plastic is a
material that behaves as rigid body at low stresses but flows as a
viscous fluid at high stress. This behaviour is exhibited by slurries,
suspensions of solids in liquids, paints, emulsions, foams, etc. For
instance toothpaste, mayonnaise, chocolate, mustard are such
materials.

https://americanbobcat.blog/2023/08/02/what-are-the-non-newtonian-liquids/ Page 9 of 10
WHAT ARE THE NON-NEWTONIAN LIQUIDS? – Computer Aided Design & The 118 Elements 10/31/23, 03:43

August 2, 2023
MATERIALS SCIENCE

WEBSITE BUILT WITH WORDPRESS.COM.

UP ↑

https://americanbobcat.blog/2023/08/02/what-are-the-non-newtonian-liquids/ Page 10 of 10