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Rheology is the study of the deformation and flow of matter. The term rheology was coined by Eugene Bingham , a professor at Lehigh University, in 1920, from a suggestion by Markus Reiner , inspired by Heraclitus's famous expression panta rhei, "everything flows".
In practice, rheology is principally concerned with extending the relatively straightforward disciplines of elasticity and Newtonian fluid mechanics to more complicated and realistic materials.
| Continuum mechanics | Solid mechanics or strength of materials | Elasticity | |
| Plasticity | Rheology | ||
| Fluid mechanics | Non-Newtonian fluids | ||
| Newtonian fluids | |||
Rheology brings unity to the, at first sight, unrelated fields of plasticity and non-Newtonian fluids by recognising that both these types of materials are unable to support a shear stress in static equilibriumFor the 2002 science fiction movie see Equilibrium (2002 movie Equilibrium or balance is any of a number of related phenomena in the natural and social sciences. In general, a system is said to be in a state of equilibrium if all influences on the system. In this sense, a plastic solid is a fluidA subset of the phases of matter, fluids include liquids and gases, plasmas and, to some extent, plastic solids. Fluids share the properties of not resisting deformation and the ability to flow (perhaps otherwise described as their ability to take on the.
Granular rheology refers to the motion of granular materialA granular material is a conglomeration of discrete solid, macroscopic particles characterized by a loss of energy whenever the particles interact (the most common example would be friction when grains collide). Examples of granular materials would includs.
One of the key tasks of rheology is empirically to establish the relationships between characteristics such as shear stress and strain and its derivatives. These experimental techniques are known as rheometry . Such relationships are then amenable to mathematical treatment by the usual methods of continuum mechanics.
Rheology has important applications in engineering and in physiology. In particular, Hemorheology is the study of the properties of blood flow.
Journals covering rheology include:
Download free Viscosity and Rheometry E-book in English and German: