Related papers: Coupling between criticality and gelation in "stic…
The competition of depletion attractions and longer-ranged repulsions between colloidal particles in colloid-polymer mixtures leads to the formation of heterogeneous gel-like structures. For instance, gel networks, i.e., states where the…
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…
We study experimentally and theoretically the sedimentation of gels made of strongly aggregated colloidal particles, focussing on the long time behavior, when mechanical equilibrium is asymptotically reached. The asymptotic gel height is…
Attractive colloidal gels display a solid-to-fluid transition as shear stresses above the yield stress are applied. This shear-induced transition is involved in virtually any application of colloidal gels. It is also crucial for controlling…
Systems with long-range interactions quenched into a metastable state near the pseudospinodal exhibit nucleation that is qualitatively different than the classical nucleation observed near the coexistence curve. We have observed nucleation…
Computer simulations were used to study the gel transition occurring in colloidal systems with short range attractions. A colloid-polymer mixture was modelled and the results were compared with mode coupling theory expectations and with the…
Colloidal gels have strong industrial relevance as they can behave liquid- and solid-like. The latter allows them to support the buoyant weight against gravity. However, the system is intrinsically out-of-equilibrium, which means that the…
As one increases the concentration of a colloidal suspension, the system exhibits a dramatic increase in viscosity. Structurally, the system resembles a liquid, yet motions within the suspension are slow enough that it can be considered…
Colloidal gels have unique mechanical and transport properties that stem from their bicontinous nature, in which a colloidal network is intertwined with a viscous solvent, and have found numerous applications in foods, cosmetics,…
With the use of thermodynamics and general equilibrium conditions only, we study the entropy of a fluid in the vicinity of the critical point of the liquid-vapor phase transition. By assuming a general form for the coexistence curve in the…
A transition from solid-like to liquid-like behavior occurs when colloidal gels are subjected to a prolonged exposure to a steady shear. This phenomenon, which is characterized by a yielding point, is found to be strongly dependent on the…
Using Brownian dynamics computer simulations we show that a two-dimensional suspension of self-propelled ("active") colloidal particles crystallizes at sufficiently high densities. Compared to the equilibrium freezing of passive particles…
Hard spheres confined to narrow quasi-one-dimensional cylindrical channels form perfect helical structures at close packing. Here, we use molecular dynamics simulation to show that the thermodynamics, structure and dynamics of the fluid…
The evolution of viscoelastic properties near the sol-gel transition is studied by performing oscillatory rheological measurements on two different types of systems: a colloidal dispersion and a thermo-responsive polymer solution under…
We develop an approach to liquid thermodynamics based on collective modes. We perform extensive molecular dynamics simulations of noble, molecular and metallic liquids and provide the direct evidence that liquid energy and specific heat are…
The phase behavior of binary fluid mixtures of hard hyperspheres in four and five dimensions is investigated. Spinodal instability is found by using a recent and accurate prescription for the equation of state of the mixture that requires…
We show that in the presence of spinodal instabilities which develop at a first order phase transition, the fluctuations of conserved charges can be as strong as those at the critical end point (CEP). In particular, the net baryon number…
We present a comprehensive study of the slip and flow of concentrated colloidal suspensions using cone-plate rheometry and simultaneous confocal imaging. In the colloidal glass regime, for smooth, non-stick walls, the solid nature of the…
We investigate the link between particle-scale dynamics and bulk behaviors of thickly-coated particle-fluid flows using computational simulations. We find that, similar to dense fully-saturated slurries, the form the rheology takes in these…
In the study of crystal nucleation via computer simulations, hard spheres are arguably the most extensively explored model system. Nonetheless, even in this simple model system, the complex thermodynamics of crystal nuclei can sometimes…