Flow-induced gelation of microfiber suspensions. Author Antonio Perazzo, Janine Nunes, Stefano Guido, Howard Stone Publication Year 2017 Type Journal Article Abstract The flow behavior of fiber suspensions has been studied extensively, especially in the limit of dilute concentrations and rigid fibers; at the other extreme, however, where the suspensions are concentrated and the fibers are highly flexible, much less is understood about the flow properties. We use a microfluidic method to produce uniform concentrated suspensions of high aspect ratio, flexible microfibers, and we demonstrate the shear thickening and gelling behavior of such microfiber suspensions, which, to the best of our knowledge, has not been reported previously. By rheological means, we show that flowing the suspension triggers the irreversible formation of topological entanglements of the fibers resulting in an entangled water-filled network. This phenomenon suggests that flexible fiber suspensions can be exploited to produce a new family of flow-induced gelled materials, such as porous hydrogels. A significant consequence of these flow properties is that the microfiber suspension is injectable through a needle, from which it can be extruded directly as a hydrogel without any chemical reactions or further treatments. Additionally, we show that this fiber hydrogel is a soft, viscoelastic, yield-stress material. Journal Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A Volume 114 Issue 41 Pages E8557-E8564 Date Published 2017 Oct 10 ISSN Number 1091-6490 DOI 10.1073/pnas.1710927114 Alternate Journal Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A PMCID PMC5642717 PMID 28923973 PubMedPubMed CentralGoogle ScholarBibTeXEndNote X3 XML