Steady-state nucleation in a binary mixture: The effect of stirring

Using light scattering, we have studied the effect of shear on nucleation in the binary-fluid mixture 2,6-lutidine + water. The experimental method differs from traditional ones, in that the measurements were made in the steady state: droplets which formed in the quenched mixture were constantly being ruptured by the continuous shear. The shear was produced by the spinning of a stirrer magnet inside the sample. It was found that when the stirring frequency f exceeds, by a very small amount, some critical value ${\mathrm{f}}_{\mathrm{c}}$ (for a fixed quench depth δT), the scattering changes by orders of magnitude. Our results are compared with a simple theory of Onuki and Takesue.