Essentials of Viscoelasticity

Abstract

Viscoelastic dispersion is a rather essential element of the modeling process. The viscoelastic parameters of soft matter (such as shear modulus) depend on frequency because soft matter often relaxes on the time scale of the experiment. Mechanical relaxation can even be viewed as characteristic of soft condensed matter. The chapter discusses the basics of viscoelasticity and its relevance to QCM-based sensing.