Structure and rheology of highly concentrated emulsions: a modern look

The review concerns modern physicochemical, chemical and physical approaches to research into structural features that determine the rheological properties of highly concentrated emulsions. The structures and properties of various systems (suspensions, emulsions as well as transient forms including micellar colloidal solutions) are considered. The formation of highly concentrated emulsions is treated as the concentration glass transition leading to suppression of the molecular and supermolecular mobility and, subsequently, to the existence of a solid-like state of the systems in question. The emphasis is placed on analysis of visco-plasticity which manifests itself in the possibility for emulsions (unlike suspensions) to undergo irreversible deformation (to flow) at stresses exceeding some threshold (critical value) called the yield stress. The thixotropic nature of the transition through the yield stress, governed by the kinetics of the breakup/recovery of the inherent structure is considered in detail. It has been shown that structure formation in highly concentrated emulsions can extend to a macroscopic level and result in the onset of heterogeneity of a flow in the form of shear bands.
The bibliography includes 202 references.