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We have studied the tensile deformation behaviour of thin films of aging aqueous suspension of Laponite, a model soft glassy material, when subjected to a creep flow field generated by a constant engineering normal stress. Aqueous suspension of Laponite demonstrates aging behaviour wherein it undergoes time dependent enhancement of its elastic modulus as well as its characteristic relaxation time. However, under application of the normal stress, the rate of aging decreases and in the limit of high stress, the aging stops with the suspension now undergoing a plastic deformation. Overall, it is observed that the aging that occurs over short creep times at small normal stresses is same as the aging that occurs over long creep times at large normal stresses. This observation allows us to suggest an aging time -process time -normal stress superposition principle, which can predict rheological behaviour at longer times by carrying out short time tests.

In this work, we study the deformation behavior of thin films of various soft glassy materials that are simultaneously subjected to two creep flow fields, rotational shear flow by applying torque and elongational flow by applying normal force. The generic behavior under the combined fields is investigated in different soft glassy materials with diverse microstructure such as: hair gel, emulsion paint, shaving foam and clay suspension. Increase in strength of one stress component while keeping the other constant, not only leads to an expected enhanced deformation in its own direction, but also greater strain in the other direction. Herschel-Bulkley model is observed to explain this behavior qualitatively. Elongational flow induced in the materials eventually causes failure in the same. Interestingly time to failure is observed to be strongly dependent not just on normal force but also on the applied rotational shear stress. We believe that the presence of a three dimensional jammed structure, in which overall unjamming can be induced by applying stress having sufficient magnitude irrespective of the direction leads to the observed behavior. In addition, we observe self-similarity in the elongational as well as rotational strain -time curves corresponding to various combinations of both the fields. This observation suggests a mere shift in the time-scales involved keeping the path followed in the process unchanged. A phase diagram is also constructed for various soft glassy materials by determining different combinations of orthogonal stresses beyond which materials yield. Estimated yield stress in the limit of flow dominated by applied tensile force on the top plate demonstrates scatter, which might be originating from fingering instability. Except this deviation, yielding is observed when the invariant of stress tensor exceeds yield stress, validating the Von Mises criterion.

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