Shear-thickening in suspensions, associating polymers, worm-like micelles, and poor polymer solutions

During the past year, major advances in our understanding of shear-thickening phenomena have occurred especially as the result of rheo-optical techniques and simulations. In suspensions, studies have found that shear-thickening is caused by cluster formation and is not necessarily due to an order→disorder transition; in associating polymer systems and poor polymer solutions, recent work has shown that shear-thickening-is related to the shear-induced formation of intermolecular structures.