Spatial mapping and scaling of the shear-induced transformation from bicontinuous microemulsions towards lamellar structures by coupling microfluidics and SANS

Abstract

Coupling microfluidics and small-angle neutron scattering (SANS), we investigate the influence of shear flow on a model bicontinuous microemulsion of D₂O/n-octane/C₁₀E₄, examining the role of membrane volume fraction in the transformation towards a lamellar structure. We employ a contraction-expansion geometry with flow velocities in excess of 10 m s⁻¹ and spatially map the microfluidic field using a small SANS beam, illuminating down to 10 nL sample volumes. The shear-induced, progressive, bicontinuous-to-lamellar transition is found to be promoted by additional extensional flow (>10³ s⁻¹), while fast relaxation kinetics (<2 ms) return the scattering pattern to isotropic shortly after the constriction. Further, increasing the domain size of the bicontinuous structure (determined by the membrane volume fraction) appears to amplify its response to shear. Hence, the structural changes within the dilute bicontinuous microemulsions simply scale with the volume fraction of the membrane. By contrast, the stronger response of the microemulsion with the smallest domain size, located near the bicontinuous/lamellar coexistence, indicates an influence of an already more ordered structure with fewer passages. Our findings provide insight into the high shear behaviour of microemulsions of both academic and industrial relevance.