We describe the elasticity of compressed microgel suspensions starting from a core--shell model for the single particle. The mechanical properties of the inner core and of the outer corona are described via the mean field Flory theory, and via the Alexander--de Gennes model for polymer brushes, respectively. The model successfully reproduces experimental measures of the elastic shear modulus up to a constant factor that we rationalize in the jamming perspective.
@article{arxiv.1305.3520,
title = {Elasticity of compressed microgel suspensions},
author = {G. Romeo and M. Pica Ciamarra},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1305.3520},
year = {2013}
}