Fig. 1

Steady-state flow curves and creep behavior of CTAT nematic. a Applied shear stress (\(\sigma\)) versus absolute value of steady-state shear rate (\(| \langle \dot{\gamma }\rangle |\), calculated considering data from 2000 s to 8000 s for each stress value) for 39 wt\(\%\) CTAT + water sample at 30 °C (nematic phase of cylindrical micelles) is plotted for two different sample thicknesses (d). Filled symbols indicate positive and empty symbols indicate negative values of \(\langle \dot{\gamma }\rangle\). Solid curve and dash-dot curve are Herschel–Bulkley fits with yield stress \({\sigma }_{{\rm{y}}}=28\) Pa, 29 Pa (indicated by the arrow) and power \(n=0.62,0.81\) for \(d=10\ \upmu\)m, 25 µm, respectively. b Angular velocity of the top plate (\(\dot{\phi }\)) as a function of time (t) is plotted for four different \(\sigma\) with same sample thickness \(d=10\ \upmu\)m (see Supplementary Fig. 3 for the expanded version of the \(\sigma =2\) Pa data), and c shows plots for four different d with same applied stress \(\sigma =2\) Pa.