What does shear thinning mean?

Shear thinning property of the Nanocellulose hydrogel. UPM nanocellulose hydrogel is a temperature stable gel. The material properties do not change even when temperature changes from 0°C to 60 °C. UPM nanocellulose is a ready-to-use hydrogel meaning that it does require any steps (e.g. crosslinking or polymerization) to form the gel. It is also shear thinning material, meaning that the gels viscosity decreases under shear strain and it recovers back to its semisolid state when the applied stress is removed. UPM nanocellulose’s shear thinning property enables injecting the hydrogel with a needle (for instance 30G size was used in vivo), handling with automated liquid dispensing or bioprinting.