Related papers: Microstructure of polydisperse colloidal gels
A highly polydisperse granular gas is modeled by a continuous distribution of particle sizes, a, giving rise to a corresponding continuous temperature profile, T(a), which we compute approximately, generalizing previous results for binary…
We use numerical simulations to understand how random deviations from the ideal spherical shape affect the ability of hard particles to form fcc crystalline structures. Using a system of hard spheres as a reference, we determine the…
Here we present an experimental observation of the self-organization effect of the polystyrene particles formed by acoustically-induced interaction forces. Two types of stable configurations are observed experimentally: one is mechanically…
Studying physical mechanisms and common geometric principles underlying known spherical packings is crucial for rational design of synthetic nanocontainers. Here we model the growth of small spherical shells containing n<72 identical…
We report a numerical study, covering a wide range of packing fraction $\phi$ and temperature $T$, for a system of particles interacting via a square well potential supplemented by an additional constraint on the maximum number $n_{\rm…
A simple three-dimensional model of a fluid whose constituent particles interact via a short range attractive and long range repulsive potential is used to model the aggregation into large spherical-like clusters made up of hundreds of…
Ample experimental evidence has been accumulated demonstrating that the formation of monodispersed colloids proceeds through a more complex mechanism, than the generally excepted diffusional "burst nucleation" process. Instead, the…
We present a systematic overview of granular deposits composed of ellipsoidal particles with different particle shapes and size polydispersities. We study the density and anisotropy of such deposits as functions of size polydispersity and…
The rheology of dense amorphous materials under large shear strain is not fully understood, partly due to the difficulty of directly viewing the microscopic details of such materials. We use a colloidal suspension to simulate amorphous…
Van der Waals forces as interactions between neutral and polarisable particles act at small distances between two objects. Their theoretical origin lies in the electromagnetic interaction between induced dipole moments caused by the vacuum…
Building structures with hierarchical order through the self-assembly of smaller blocks is not only a prerogative of nature, but also a strategy to design artificial materials with tailored functions. We explore in simulation the…
We report three-dimensional particle mechanics static calculations that predict the microstructure evolution during die-compaction of elastic spherical particles up to relative densities close to one. We employ a nonlocal contact…
Colloidal gels are formed through the aggregation of attractive particles, whose size ranges from 10~nm to a few micrometers, suspended in a liquid. Such gels are ubiquitous in everyday life applications, from food products to paints or…
While it is widely acknowledged that system-spanning particulate structures contribute to the observed yield stress and shear-thinning in attractive colloidal gels, a comprehensive understanding of the underlying microscopic mechanisms…
The macroscopic mechanical properties of colloidal particle gels strongly depend on the local arrangement of the powder particles. Experiments have shown that more heterogeneous microstructures exhibit up to one order of magnitude higher…
Strongly interacting binary mixtures of superparamagnetic colloidal particles confined to a two-dimensional water-air interface are examined by theory, computer simulation and experiment. The mixture exhibits a partial clustering in…
We study mutual alignment and interactions between colloidal particles of dissimilar shapes and dimensions when dispersed in a nematic host fluid. Convex pentagonal and concave starfruit-shaped nanoprisms and microspheres induce dipolar or…
It has recently been shown that identical, isotropic particles can form complex crystals and quasicrystals. In order to understand the relation between the particle interaction and the structure, which it stabilizes, the phase behavior of a…
We report on the differences between colloidal systems left to evolve in the earth's gravitational field and the same systems for which a slow continuous rotation averaged out the effects of particle sedimentation on a distance scale small…
Connecting the collective behavior of disordered systems with local structure on the particle scale is an important challenge, for example in granular and glassy systems. Compounding complexity, in many scientific and industrial…