Shear History Extensional Rheology Experiment II (SHERE II) Microgravity Rheology with Non-Newtonian Polymeric Fluids

The primary objective of SHERE II is to study the effect of torsional preshear on the subsequent extensional behavior of filled viscoelastic suspensions. Microgravity environment eliminates gravitational sagging that makes Earth-based experiments of extensional rheology challenging. Experiments may serve as an idealized model system to study the properties of lunar regolith-polymeric binder based construction materials.Filled polymeric suspensions are ubiquitous in foods, cosmetics, detergents, biomedical materials, etc.••••In all experiments strain hardening was observed during the stretch phase as well as the capillary thinning phase; this strain hardening arises from the extension of the polymer chains under the action of the extensional flow field.For a strain rate of = 3 s