Polydisperse fiber networks are the basis of many natural and manufactured structures, ranging from high-performance biobased materials to components of living cells and tissues. The formation and behavior of such networks are given by fiber properties such as length and stiffness as well as the number density and fiber-fiber interactions. Studies of fiber network behavior, such as connectivity or rigidity thresholds, typically assume monodisperse fiber lengths and isotropic fiber orientation distributions, specifically for nano scale fibers, where the methods providing time-resolved measurements are limited. Using birefringence measurements in a microfluidic flow-focusing channel combined with a flow stop procedure, we here propose a methodology allowing investigations of length-dependent rotational dynamics of nanoscale polydisperse fiber suspensions, including the effects of initial nonisotropic orientation distributions. Transition from rotational mobility to rigidity at entanglement thresholds is specifically addressed for a number of nanocellulose suspensions, which are used as model nanofiber systems. The results show that the proposed method allows the characterization of the subtle interplay between Brownian diffusion and nanoparticle alignment on network dynamics.

An interface between two miscible fluids is transient, existing as a non-equilibrium state before complete molecular mixing is reached. However, during the existence of such an interface, which typically occurs at relatively short time scales, composition gradients at the boundary between the two liquids cause stresses effectively mimicking an interfacial tension. Here, we combine numerical modelling and experiments to study the influence of an effective interfacial tension between a colloidal fibre dispersion and its own solvent on the flow in a microfluidic system. In a flow-focusing channel, the dispersion is injected as core flow that is hydrodynamically focused by its solvent as sheath flows. This leads to the formation of a long fluid thread, which is characterized in three dimensions using optical coherence tomography and simulated using a volume of fluid method. The simulated flow and thread geometries very closely reproduce the experimental results in terms of thread topology and velocity flow fields. By varying the interfacial tension numerically, we show that it controls the thread development, which can be described by an effective capillary number. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the applied methodology provide the means to measure the ultra-low but dynamically highly significant effective interfacial tension.

Designing engineering materials with high stiffness and high toughness is challenging as stiff materials tend to be brittle. Many biological materials realize this objective through multiscale (i.e., atomic- to macroscale) mechanisms that are extremely difficult to replicate in synthetic materials. Inspired from the architecture of such biological structures, we here present flow-assisted organization and assembly of renewable native cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs), which yields highly anisotropic biofibers characterized by a unique combination of high strength (1010 MPa), high toughness (62 MJ m−3) and high stiffness (57 GPa). We observed that properties of the fibers are primarily governed by specific ion characteristics such as hydration enthalpy and polarizability. A fundamental facet of this study is thus to elucidate the role of specific anion binding following the Hofmeister series on the mechanical properties of wet fibrillar networks, and link this to the differences in properties of dry nanostructured fibers. This knowledge is useful for rational design of nanomaterials and is critical for validation of specific ion effect theories. The bioinspired assembly demonstrated here is relevant example for designing high-performance materials with absolute structural control.

In the present study, we report results from in-situ investigations of the forming process performed in the roll-blade section of a pilot machine. Direct measurements of the drainage pressure along the forming zone were obtained using a miniature fibre-optic pressure transducer inserted into the flow through the headbox jet. High-speed imaging of tracer particles using a transmitted light setup was performed to in an attempt to obtain direct measurements of the local stock speed. By replacing one section of a ceramic blade with a quartz glass piece, access was also obtained to the region on top of the blade. The combined picture that emerges from these measurements is that the pressure distribution and the velocity field along a twin-wire forming zone is significantly more complex than usually assumed, and that much remains to be understood about the dynamics of twin-wire forming.