Bending and breaking fibers in sheared suspensions

An experimental study was made of single fibers rotating and bending in Couette flow of a Newtonian liquid. A previous result for critical fiber buckling was re-tested and found satisfactory, and the transition between ‘springy’ and ‘snake’ rotation was delineated. The minimum radius, of curvature achieved during rotation in the “snake orbit” regime was measured as a function of fiber aspect ratio, Young's modulus, and fluid shear stress. Two correlations are presented which are constrained to satisfy limiting conditions for very stiff and very flexible fibers. Together with a result from thin rod theory, these correlations may be used to predict breaking conditions for fibers of known Young's modulus and ultimate tensile strength. Predictions are tested in experiments where two types of glass fiber are broken in suspension and found satisfactory. Results show that several reinforcing materials will probably break within the range of conditions covered by our experiments, or in a region which can be treated by extrapolation from our results.