Yield and flow-induced phase transition in colloidal gels under startup shear

We study the micro-mechanical origins of the transition from solid-like to liquid-like behavior during flow startup of colloidal gels via large-scale dynamic simulation, with a view toward understanding connections to energy storage and phase transition. Such materials often exhibit an overshoot in stress, and prior studies of strong, dilute colloidal gels with a stringy microstructure connect this ``yield'' event to loss of network connectivity. Owing to the importance of Brownian transport in phase separation processes in colloids, here we study a reversible colloidal gel of hard spheres that interact via a short-range attraction of several \textit{kT}, for which Brownian motion can lead to rapid quiescent coarsening. In the present study, we interrogate the shear stress for a range of imposed flow strengths, monitoring particle-level structure and dynamics, to determine the microscopic picture of gel yield. Our detailed studies of the microstructural evolution and macroscopic response during startup provide insight into the phase behavior during yield. We present a new model of stress development, phase transition, and structural evolution during transient yield in colloidal gels for which ongoing phase separation informs gel phenomenology.