Related papers: Soft granular matter
The shape of materials is often subject to a number of geometric constraints that limit the size of the system or fix the structure of its boundary. In soft and biological materials, however, these constraints are not always hard, but are…
An event-driven molecular dynamics simulation of inelastic hard spheres contained in a cylinder and subject to strong vibration reproduces accurately experimental results[1] for a system of vibrofluidized glass beads. In particular, we are…
Small angle neutron and x-ray scattering methods are used to investigate the structure of dilute suspensions of two different ferrofluid systems dispersed in soft polyacrylamide hydrogels. It is found that the particles in the fluid are…
Soft elastic composite materials can serve as actuators when they transform changes in external fields into mechanical deformation. Here, we address the corresponding deformational behavior of magnetic gels and elastomers, consisting of…
The size and shape of a large variety of polymeric particles, including biological cells, star polymers, dendrimes, and microgels, depend on the applied stresses as the particles are extremely soft. In high-density suspensions these…
The mechanical properties of a disordered heterogeneous medium depend, in general, on a complex interplay between multiple length scales. Connecting local interactions to macroscopic observables, such as stiffness or fracture, is thus…
Amongst the various fascinating types of material behavior featured by magnetic gels and elastomers are magnetostrictive effects. That is, deformations in shape or changes in volume are induced from outside by external magnetic fields.…
The dynamic of contact formation between soft materials immersed in a fluid is accompanied by fluid drainage and elastic deformation. As a result, controlling the coupling between lubrication pressure and elasticity provides strategies to…
We report surface shear rheological measurements on dense insoluble monolayers of micron sized colloidal spheres at the oil/water interface and of the protein $\beta$-lactoglobulin at the air/water surface. As expected, the elastic modulus…
We study experimentally the motion of non-deformable microbeads in a linear shear flow close to a wall bearing a thin and soft polymer layer. Combining microfluidics and 3D optical tracking, we demonstrate that the steady-state bead/surface…
Soft gels, formed via the self-assembly of particulate organic materials, exhibit intricate multi-scale structures that provides them with flexibility and resilience when subjected to external stresses. This work combines molecular…
Magnetic gels are soft elastic materials consisting of magnetic particles embedded in a polymer network. Their shape and elasticity can be controlled by an external magnetic field, which gives rise to both, engineering and biomedical…
Understanding how granular materials respond to shear stress remains a central challenge in soft matter physics. We report direct observations of persistent granular convection in the bulk shear zones of spherical particle packings -- a…
Cutting soft materials is a complex process governed by the interplay of bulk large deformation, interfacial soft fracture, and contact forces with the cutting tool. Existing experimental characterizations and numerical models often fail to…
Solvent evaporation in soft matter solutions (solutions of colloidal particles, polymers and their mixtures) is an important process in material making and in printing and coating industries. The solvent evaporation process determines the…
Large objects, immersed in a homogeneous granular system, migrate when subjected to vibrations. Under certain conditions large heavy objects rise and similar light ones sink to the bottom. This is called reverse buoyancy. We report an…
A microfluidic device is constructed from PDMS with a single channel having a short section that is a thin flexible membrane, in order to investigate the complex fluid-structure interaction that arises between a flowing fluid and a…
Soft Glassy Materials (SGM) consist in dense amorphous assemblies of colloidal particles of multiple shapes, elasticity, and interactions, which confer upon them solid-like properties at rest. They are ubiquitously encountered in modern…
Dry granular materials such as sand, gravel, pills, or agricultural grains, can become rigid when compressed or sheared. At low density, one can distort the shape of a container of granular material without encountering any resistance.…
Flowing granular materials segregate due to differences in particle size (driven by percolation) and density (driven by buoyancy). Modelling the segregation of mixtures of large/heavy particles and small/light particles is challenging due…