Shear-induced behavior in a solution of cylindrical micelles

The structure of cylindrical aqueous micellar solutions was studied by small angle neutron scattering and light scattering in equilibrium and under shear. In equilibrium, the micelles behave as randomly oriented, rigid cylinders with an exponential distribution of lengths. Under an applied shear, the micelles generally align as expected, but at a particular concentration, close to the overlap concentration, applied shear has little effect until a threshold shear rate is reached and then only after a time delay. The results are consistent with some aspects of recent kinetic theories for the association and breaking of micelle systems under shear flow.