Related papers: How to reduce the crack density in drying colloida…

Thin films made of deformable micro- and nano-units, such as biological membranes, polymer interfaces, and particle-laden liquid surfaces, exhibit a complex behavior during drying, with consequences for various applications like wound…

Dispersed colloidal particles within a suspension can aggregate and spontaneously self-organize into a robust, percolating structure known as a gel. These network-like structures are prevalent in nature and play a critical role in many…

Evaporating suspensions of colloidal particles lead to the formation of a variety of patterns, ranging from a left-over ring of a dried coffee drop to uniformly distributed solid pigments left behind wet paint. To characterize the…

The drying of colloidal suspensions leads to complex deposition patterns, accompanied by instabilities such as cracking and delamination. In this study, we experimentally investigate the coupled influence of particle surface charge and…

We develop a dynamical density functional theory based model for the drying of colloidal films on planar surfaces. We consider mixtures of two different sizes of hard-sphere colloids. Depending on the solvent evaporation rate and the…

The fragmentation of liquid sheets produces a collection of droplets. The size distribution of the droplets has a considerable impact on the coating efficiency of sprays and the transport of contaminants. Although many processes commonly…

The process of colloidal drying gives way to particle self-assembly in numerous elds including photonics or biotechnology. Yet, the mechanisms and conditions driving the nal particle arrangement in dry colloidal layers remain elusive. Here,…

Direct observations of the surface and shape of model nano-colloidal gels associated with measurements of the spatial distribution of water content during drying show that air starts to significantly penetrate the sample when the material…

We develop a theory for drying-induced stresses in sessile, poroelastic drops undergoing evaporation on rigid surfaces. Using a lubrication-like approximation, the governing equations of three-dimensional nonlinear poroelasticity are…

Strong particulate gels are widely believed to behave poroelastically in compression, e.g. in sedimentation, even though they consolidate irreversibly because of the stickiness of the particles. Particulate gels are usually adhesive as well…

Drying of colloidal droplets on solid, rigid substrates is associated with a capillary pressure developing within the droplet. In due course of time, the capillary pressure builds up due to droplet evaporation resulting in the formation of…

Drying of bacterial suspensions is frequently encountered in a plethora of natural and engineering processes. However, the evaporation-driven mechanical instabilities of dense consolidating bacterial suspensions have not been explored…

Volume alteration in solid materials is a common cause of material failure. Here we investigate the crack formation in thin elastic layers attached to a substrate. We show that small variations in the volume contraction and substrate…

We exploit the controlled drying of millimeter-sized gel beads to investigate isotropic compression of colloidal fractal gels. Using a custom dynamic light scattering setup, we demonstrate that stresses imposed by drying on the bead surface…

The ordering of particles in the drying process of a colloidal suspension is crucial in determining the properties of the resulting film. For example, microscopic inhomogeneities can lead to the formation of cracks and defects that can…

Fatigue refers to the changes in material properties caused by repeatedly applied loads. It has been widely studied for, e.g., construction materials, but much less has been done on soft materials. Here, we characterize the fatigue dynamics…

Drying induced cracking of concrete surfaces and repair layers is a common problem. A principal cause for this type of cracking is the moisture and resulting contraction gradient that develops in the cement paste matrix upon drying. This…

Despite their technological relevance, a full microscopic understanding of glasses is still lacking. This applies even more to their surfaces whose properties largely differ from that of the bulk material. Here, we experimentally…

Colloidal gels are widely applied in industry due to their rheological character -- no flow takes place below the yield stress. Such property enables gels to maintain uniform distribution in practical formulations; otherwise, solid…

The consolidation of colloidal particles in drying colloidal dispersions is influenced by various factors such as particle size and shape, and inter-particle potential. The capillary pressure induced by the menisci, formed between the top…