Competition between shear banding and wall slip in wormlike micelles

The interplay between shear band (SB) formation and boundary conditions (BC) is investigated in wormlike micellar systems (CPyCl–NaSal) using ultrasonic velocimetry coupled to standard rheology in Couette geometry. Time-resolved velocity profiles are recorded during transient strain-controlled experiments in smooth and sand-blasted geometries. For stick BC standard SB is observed, although depending on the degree of micellar entanglement temporal fluctuations are reported in the highly sheared band. For slip BC wall slip occurs only for shear rates larger than the start of the stress plateau. At low entanglement, SB formation is shifted by a constant $\mathrm{\Delta }\dot{\gamma }$, while for more entangled systems SB constantly “nucleate and melt.” Micellar orientation gradients at the walls may account for these original features.