NUCLEATION IN THE PRESENCE OF SHEAR

Light scattering is used to investigate nucleation of a binary fluid mixture exposed to uniform steady-state shear S. The shear ruptures all droplets exceeding a certain size, R=R(burst). When S is relatively low so that R(burst) exceeds the critical radius, R(c), the system achieves a steady state, with the droplet size distribution narrowly centered on R(c). Under strong shear, where R(burst) is very close to R(c), all the existing droplets suddenly disappear. Also studied is the dependence of the droplet size R(t) and droplet density N(t) that follows the removal of the steady-state shear at t = 0. When the shear is strong, in the sense defined above, N(t) increases much more slowly than when it is weak. We know of no theory that explains this phenomenon.