Related papers: The physics of cement cohesion
Most ice in nature forms thanks to impurities which boost the exceedingly low nucleation rate of pure supercooled water. However, the microscopic details of ice nucleation on these substances remain largely unknown. Here, we have unraveled…
We present a continuum theory of electrolytes composed of a waterlike solvent and univalent ions. First, we start with a density functional $\cal F$ for the coarse-grained solvent, cation, and anion densities, including the Debye-H\"uckel…
Hydrogen bonding plays a crucial role in biology and technology, yet it remains poorly understood and quantified despite its fundamental importance. Traditional models, which describe hydrogen bonds as electrostatic interactions between…
From bone and wood to concrete and carbon fibre, composites are ubiquitous natural and engineering materials. Eshelby's inclusion theory describes how macroscopic stress fields couple to isolated microscopic inclusions, allowing prediction…
Cortical bone is a tough biological material composed of tube-like osteons embedded in the organic matrix surrounded by weak interfaces known as cement lines. The cement lines provide a microstructurally preferable crack path, hence…
It is far well accepted that the morphology of nanoparticles and nanoalloys is of paramount importance to understand their properties. Furthemore, the morphology depends on the growth mechanism with coalescence generally accepted as one the…
We propose a mathematical model describing the process of filling the pores of a building material with lime water solution with the goal to improve the consistency of the porous solid. Chemical reactions produce calcium carbonate which…
Different hypotheses have been proposed to explain the mechanism for the extremely low friction coefficient of carbon coatings and its undesired dependence on air humidity. A decisive atomistic insight is still lacking because of the…
Coupling of atoms is the basis of chemistry, yielding the beauty and richness of molecules. We utilize semiconductor nanocrystals as artificial atoms to form nanocrystal molecules that are structurally and electronically coupled. CdSe/CdS…
Understanding the physics of glass formation remains one of the major unsolved challenges of condensed matter science. As a material solidifies into a glass, it exhibits a spectacular slowdown of the dynamics upon cooling or compression,…
Nanofluids are suspensions of nanoparticles in a base heat-transfer liquid. They have been widely investigated to boost heat transfer since they were proposed in the 1990's. We present a statistical correlation analysis of experimentally…
In layered materials, a common mode of deformation involves buckling of the layers under tensile deformation in the direction perpendicular to the layers. The instability mechanism, which operates in elastic materials from geological to…
The formation and entrapment of gas bubbles during solidification significantly influence the microstructure and mechanical properties of materials, from metallic alloys to ice. While gas segregation at the solidification front is…
The morphology and transport properties of thin films of the ionomer Nafion, with thicknesses on the order of the bulk cluster size, have been investigated as a model system to explain the anomalous behaviour of catalyst/electrode-polymer…
For nearly a century, introduction of nanoparticles to elastomers has yielded extraordinarily tough nanocomposites that are critical to technologies from actuators to tires. The mechanisms by which this reinforcement occurs have…
A system of inelastic hard disks in a thin pipe capped by hot walls is studied with the aim of investigating velocity correlations between particles. Two effects lead to such correlations: inelastic collisions help to build localized…
While largely studied on the macroscopic scale, the dynamics leading to nucleation and fission processes in atmospheric aerosols are still poorly understood at the molecular level. Here, we present a joint experimental-theoretical study of…
Granular materials are involved in most industrial and environmental processes, as well as many civil engineering applications. Although significant advances have been made in understanding the statics and dynamics of cohesionless grains…
Hydrogen is widely regarded as a cornerstone of future low-carbon energy technologies, yet the lack of safe, efficient, and reversible solid-state storage materials remains a major barrier to its large-scale deployment. Although porous…
Quantum coherence is a fundamental characteristic to distinguish quantum systems from their classical counterparts. Though quantum coherence persists in isolated non-interacting systems, interactions inevitably lead to decoherence, which is…