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We report experiments on two series of wormlike micellar solutions that comprise octyl trimethylammonium bromide/sodium oleate (OTAB/NaOA) and cetylpyridinium chloride/sodium salicylate (CPCl/NaSal) using a capillary breakup extensional rheometer (CaBER) and a dripping onto substrate (DoS) technique. These wormlike micellar systems show a peak in zero shear viscosity or in the shear relaxation time beyond a critical surfactant or salt concentration. Prior cryogenic transmission electron microscopy imaging has indicated that the system based on OTAB/NaOA experiences a transition from linear to shorter linear micelles (L-L) beyond the viscosity peak. However, the linear wormlike micelles based on CPCl/NaSal form branched networks beyond the viscosity peak (L-B). In this work, we investigate whether the extensional rheology is sensitive to these two different microstructural transitions. In particular, we attempt to develop a criterion based on the extensional flow parameters in order to distinguish these two systems from each other. In addition, we probe the possibility of flow-induced micellar breakage imposed by capillary breakup extensional experiments. Our results indicate that at a given zero shear viscosity, the branched wormlike micelles based on CPCl/NaSal exhibit a longer filament lifetime tfil than the linear wormlike micelles. However, beyond the critical concentration, the linear wormlike micelles based on OTAB/NaOA exhibit significantly shorter filament lifetimes than their linear counterparts at concentrations below the viscosity peak. More importantly, we show that the filament lifetime scales differently with zero shear viscosity η0 in these two systems. For L-B transition, tfil∝η01.1 below the viscosity peak and tfil∝η00.76 above the viscosity peak. However, for L-L transition, this scaling remains the same for concentrations below and above the viscosity peak and reads as tfil∝η00.5. These findings provide a novel criterion to distinguish these two types of microstructural transitions in wormlike micelles. On the other hand, we demonstrate that the Trouton ratio, filament lifetime, and the extensional relaxation time measured by CaBER technique are all lower than the ones obtained by DoS method. The latter result provides the first evidence for strong nonlinear effects (e.g., flow-induced micellar breakage) in capillary breakup extensional flows of wormlike micelles.

In this paper, we use rheometry and flow visualization to study the dynamics of the interface between shear bands in a wormlike micellar solution sheared between concentric cylinders, i.e., in a Taylor-Couette (TC) cell, and to evaluate the stress diffusion coefficient and the stress correlation length in the Johnson-Segalman model. Two wormlike micellar solutions are studied: an aqueous solution of CTAB-NaNO3 and a solution of CPCl-NaSal in brine. These systems are highly elastic, exhibit Maxwellian behavior in linear viscoelasticity experiments, and shear banding in nonlinear experiments [S. Lerouge, et al., Soft Matter, 2008, 4, 1808-1819, M. A. Fardin, et al., Soft Matter, 2012, 8(39), 10072-10089, P. Ballesta, et al., J. Rheol., 2007, 51, 1047]. A large, custom-built, computer controlled TC cell allows us to rotate both cylinders independently and to visualize the flow in the r-z plane using a CCD camera. At low shear rates, the flow is stable and the fluid appears homogeneous throughout the gap between the cylinders. Above a critical shear rate, a shear banding transition occurs. This manifests itself in the formation of two distinct bands in the r-z plane, with an interface between the two bands. For sufficiently high ramp speeds, multiple steps of interface evolution are identified, as noted by Radulescu, Lerouge, and others [O. Redulescu, et al., Europhys. Lett., 2003, 62, 230, S. Lerouge, et al., Soft Matter, 2008, 4, 1808-1819]. We quantify the interface travel using direct visualization and use this measure, as well as superposition rheometry [P. Ballesta, et al., J. Rheol., 2007, 51, 1047], to determine the stress diffusion coefficient D and the stress correlation length ζ in the Johnson-Segalman model. These parameters are evaluated at different temperatures, shear rates, and gap sizes. We find that the stress diffusion coefficient and the stress correlation length exhibit a strong dependence on the gap of the Taylor-Couette cell for both shear-banding systems. For the CTAB-NaNO3 system, we report a linear dependence of the stress diffusion coefficient on temperature for the parameter range considered. In addition, we find that for this system, the stress diffusion coefficient is independent of shear rate. For the CPCl-NaSal system, we observe the same color changes in the sample reported by others on extended light exposure; however, we find that different histories of light exposure do not affect the measured stress diffusion coefficient.