Related papers: Semidilute Principle for Gels
Ionic microgel particles are intriguing systems in which the properties of thermo-responsive polymeric colloids are enriched by the presence of charged groups. In order to rationalize their properties and predict the behaviour of microgel…
We present experimental findings on the flow rule for granular flows on a rough inclined plane using various materials including sand and glass beads of various sizes and four types of copper particles with different shapes. We characterize…
This work focuses on the thermodynamics of pseudo-elastic models which represent the Mullins effect. Two established models are analyzed theoretically, their thermomechanical properties are derived, and certain critical points are…
The macroscopic behavior of dense suspensions of neutrally-buoyant spheres in turbulent plane channel flow is examined. We show that particles larger than the smallest turbulence scales cause the suspension to deviate from the continuum…
We analyse the dynamics of different routes to collapse of a constrained polyelectrolyte gel in contact with an ionic bath. The evolution of the gel is described by a model that incorporates non-linear elasticity, Stefan-Maxwell diffusion…
The surface tension, the adsorption, and the depletion thickness of polymers close to a single nonadsorbing colloidal sphere are computed by means of Monte Carlo simulations. We consider polymers under good-solvent conditions and in the…
The mean area of a two-dimensional Gaussian ring of $N$ monomers is known to diverge when the ring is subject to a critical pressure differential, $p_c \sim N^{-1}$. In a recent publication [Eur. Phys. J. E 19, 461 (2006)] we have shown…
Flows of granular media down a rough inclined plane demonstrate a number of nonlocal phenomena. We apply the recently proposed nonlocal granular fluidity model to this geometry and find that the model captures many of these effects.…
A generalized self-consistent field approach for polymer networks with fixed topology is developed. It is shown that the theory reproduces the localization of crosslinks which is characteristic for gels. The theory is then used to study the…
We experimentally study the jamming of quasi-two-dimensional emulsions. Our experiments consist of oil-in-water emulsion droplets confined between two parallel plates. From the droplet outlines, we can determine the forces between every…
Molecular dynamics simulations are used to investigate the conformations of a single polymer chain, represented by the Kremer-Grest bead-spring model, in a solution with a Lennard-Jones liquid as the solvent when the interaction strength…
Mean-field theory and scaling arguments are presented to model polyelectrolyte adsorption from semi-dilute solutions onto charged surfaces. Using numerical solutions of the mean-field equations, we show that adsorption exists only for…
According to the universality hypothesis, the phase behavior of different block copolymer melt models having fixed composition depends solely on two parameters: the invariant chain length $\bar{N}$ and the effective interaction parameter…
Polyelectrolyte gels are a very attractive class of actuation materials with remarkable electronic and mechanical properties with a great similarity to biological contractile tissues. They consist of a polymer network with ionizable groups…
The patterns arising from the differential swelling of gels are investigated experimentally and theoretically as a model for the differential growth of living tissues. Two geometries are considered: a thin strip of soft gel clamped to a…
A polymer-chain network is a collection of interconnected polymer-chains, made themselves of the repetition of a single pattern called a monomer. Our first main result establishes that, for a class of models for polymer-chain networks, the…
We explore the Mode I fracture toughness of a polymer gel containing a semi-infinite, growing crack. First, an expression is derived for the energy release rate within the linearized, small-strain setting. This expression reveals a crack…
We investigate the dynamics and the pathways of the collapse of a single, semiflexible polymer in a poor solvent via 3-D Brownian Dynamics simulations. Earlier work indicates that the condensation of semiflexible polymers generically…
The universality of the swelling of the radius of gyration of a homopolymer relative to its value in the $\theta$ state, independent of polymer-solvent chemistry, in the crossover regime between $\theta$ and athermal solvent conditions, is…
The effective quasistatic conductivity of composite polymeric electrolytes is studied in terms of a hard-core--penetrable-layer model. Used to incorporate the interface phenomena (such as amorphization of the polymer matrix around filler…