Related papers: How to reduce the crack density in drying colloida…
We use molecular dynamics simulations of a simple model to show that dispersions of slightly elongated colloidal particles with long-range dipolar interactions, like ferrofluids, can form a physical (reversible) gel at low volume fractions.…
We explore the influence of particle shape on the behavior of evaporating drops. A first set of experiments discovered that particle shape modifies particle deposition after drying. For sessile drops, spheres are deposited in a ring-like…
We have studied shrinkage crack patterns which form when a thin layer of an alumina/water slurry dries. Both isotropic and directional drying were studied. The dynamics of the pattern formation process and the geometric properties of the…
When stressed sufficiently, solid materials yield and deform plastically via reorganization of microscopic constituents. Indeed, it is possible to alter the micro-structure of materials by judicious application of stress, an empirical pro-…
A fascinating class of patterns, often encountered in nature as meandering cracks on rocks, dried-out fields and tectonic plates is produced by the fracture of solids. Here we report the observation and modeling of an unusual type of…
For solving the longstanding materials science problem of correlating elastic properties of a solid material to the formation of cracks we present a new general concept. This concept is applied to the technologically most important cracks…
Dilute oil dispersions of fractal carbon black particles with attractive Van der Waals interactions display continuous shear thickening followed by shear thinning at high shear rates. The shear thickening transition occurs at…
The shear rheology of dense colloidal and granular suspensions is strongly nonlinear, as these materials exhibit shear-thinning and shear-thickening, depending on multiple physical parameters. We numerically study the rheology of a simple…
Colloidal gel networks are disordered elastic solids that can form even in extremely dilute particle suspensions. With interaction strengths comparable to the thermal energy, their stress-bearing network can locally restructure via breaking…
The process of preparing heterogeneous catalysts on porous supports includes a drying stage, in which the porous material, impregnated with an aqueous solution of the catalyst precursor, is dried, and the precursor is precipitated on the…
A hydrostatically stressed soft elastic film circumvents the imposed constraint by undergoing a morphological instability, the wavelength of which is dictated by the minimization of the surface and the elastic strain energies of the film.…
The postulate of the existence of a jamming phase diagram (Liu and Nagel, Nature 396, 21 EP (1998aa)) provides a theoretical basis for the classification of a wide range of amorphous solids (colloidal, molecular and emulsion glasses,…
We present results from microscopic mode coupling theory generalized to colloidal dispersions under shear in an integration-through-transients formalism. Stress-strain curves in start-up shear, flow curves, and normal stresses are…
Controlled crystallization, melting and vitrification are important fundamental processes in nature and technology. However, the microscopic details of these fundamental phenomena still lack understanding, in particular how the cooling rate…
Thin liquid or gas films are everywhere in nature, from foams to submillimetric bubbles at a free surface, and their rupture leaves a collection of small drops and bubbles. However, the mechanisms at play responsible for the bursting of…
The mechanical response of a wet granular layer to imposed shear is studied experimentally at low applied normal stress. The granular material is immersed in water and the shear is applied by sliding a plate resting on the upper surface of…
The formation of three-dimensional prismatic cracks in the drying process of starch-water mixtures is investigated numerically. We assume that the mixture is an elastic porous medium which possesses a stress field and a water content field.…
Starch-water slurries are commonly used to study fracture dynamics. Drying starch-cakes benefit from being simple, economical, and reproducible systems, and have been used to model desiccation fracture in soils, thin film fracture in paint,…
A numerical method is presented for first-principle simulations of charged colloidal dispersions in electrolyte solutions. Utilizing a smoothed profile for colloid-solvent boundaries, efficient mesoscopic simulations are enabled for…
When a colloidal suspension is dried, capillary pressure may overwhelm repulsive electrostatic forces, assembling aggregates that are out of thermal equilibrium. This poorly understood process confers cohesive strength to many geological…