SHEAR MELTING OF SOLID-LIKE BOUNDARY-LAYERS IN THIN LIQUID-FILMS

Following recent experiments on thin films of simple molecular liquids confined between two solid plates, a simple model of the effective vi scosity is proposed based on the assumption of wall-induced solid-like order in the liquid film. The ordering produces a dramatic increase o f the viscosity as film thickness approaches molecular dimensions. She ar-induced melting of these solid-like boundary layers gives rise to n on-Newtonian shear-rate dependence of the viscosity. The results are c ompared with the observations of Granick and co-workers, and further e xperiments are proposed.