Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Microrheology And Microstructure Of Poly(Vinyl Alcohol)-Based Physical Gels, Nan Yang

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

We study the microrheology and microstructure of physically cross-linked poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) gels using atomic force microscopy, dynamic light scattering and particle tracking. We compare the microscopic rheological properties with the bulk properties measured using conventional shear rheometry, and correlate the rheological properties to the structure of the materials.

We develop a new technique for investigating the viscoelastic properties of soft materials using the atomic force microscope. The electronic feedback of an atomic force microscope is modified by adding a small oscillatory voltage to the deflection signal, and the amplitude and phase of the motion of the sample stage is …