For extension, the overlap of all curves for both CB, CB/DMF cases suggests that fibril interaction effects are minimal and that there is no inhibition to flow-induced alignment at the extensional strain rates considered here. This may be due to extensional flow lacking the rotational fluid motion that is present in shear flow. However, considering that the extensional strain rates are about 1 order of magnitude lower than the shear rates, it is also possible that the concentration effects are simply not yet prominent. Nonetheless, extensional flow is able to achieve higher retardance at lower strain rates where inhibition from inter-fibril interactions does not occur, making it more effective than shear at inducing alignment.