SMALL-ANGLE NEUTRON-SCATTERING STUDIES ON ORDERED POLYMER COLLOID DISPERSIONS

Ion-exchanged polystyrene latices, particle diameter 0.205 nm, have been examined by small-angle neutron scattering in a Couette cell, both at rest and under sheared conditions. At rest, the particles were highly ordered, and a well-defined spot pattern was obtained indicating a crystalline lattice. At shear rates of 104 s1, the spots essentially disappeared indicating that the crystal had. Under certain conditions, it was found that initially disordered systems can be ordered by the application of shear. The experiments show that by small-angle neutron scattering structural determination can be carried out on colloidal dispersions under shear, thus enabling microscopic structural information to be correlated with bulk rheological properties. © 1990, American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.