Shear-banding and microstructure of colloids in shear flow.

We shall discuss the following phenomena found in various colloidal systems in shear flow. We recently observed shear-banding in suspensions of fd-virus in a cylindrical shear cell. Small angle light scattering experiments revealed that the shear-banding transition is preceded by a relatively fast process (minutes) of nematic-to-paranematic phase separation during which inhomogeneities on the micrometer length scale are formed.