  The stress versus strain curves in dense colloidal dispersions under start-up
shear flow are investigated combining experiments on model core-shell
microgels, computer simulations of hard disk mixtures, and mode coupling
theory. In dense fluid and glassy states, the transient stresses exhibit first
a linear increase with the accumulated strain, then a maximum ('stress
overshoot') for strain values around 5%, before finally approaching the
stationary value, which makes up the flow curve. These phenomena arise in
well-equilibrated systems and for homogeneous flows, indicating that they are
generic phenomena of the shear-driven transient structural relaxation.
Microscopic mode coupling theory (generalized to flowing states by integration
through the transients) derives them from the transient stress correlations,
which first exhibit a plateau (corresponding to the solid-like elastic shear
modulus) at intermediate times, and then negative stress correlations during
the final decay. We introduce and validate a schematic model within mode
coupling theory which captures all of these phenomena and handily can be used
to jointly analyse linear and large-amplitude moduli, flow curves, and
stress-strain curves. This is done by introducing a new strain- and
time-dependent vertex into the relation between the the generalized shear
modulus and the transient density correlator.
