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The physical properties of blends of distinct homopolymers, cross-linked beyond the gelation point, are addressed via a Landau approach involving a pair of coupled order-parameter fields: one describing vulcanisation, the other describing…
We study analytically the intricate phase behavior of cross-linked $AB$ diblock copolymer melts, which can undergo two main phase transitions due to quenched random constraints: Gelation, i.e., spatially random localization of polymers…
We consider the gelation of particles which are permanently connected by random crosslinks, drawn from an ensemble of finite-dimensional continuum percolation. To average over the randomness, we apply the replica trick, and interpret the…
We here discuss the results of 3d MonteCarlo simulations of a minimal lattice model for gelling systems. We focus on the dynamics, investigated by means of the time autocorrelation function of the density fluctuations and the particle mean…
In this thesis the formation and properties of a polymer gel on and at a surface are investigated. The gel under investigation is defined as a three-dimensional network of "phantom" macromolecules that form permanent links with one another…
We show that the tendency towards microphase separation in microemulsions leads to the formation of a glassy state after sufficiently strong correlations between polar and hydrophobic regions have been established. Glassiness is predicted…
We investigated the viscoelastic properties of colloid-polymer mixtures at intermediate colloid volume fraction and varying polymer concentrations, thereby tuning the attractive interactions. Within the examined range of polymer…
The dynamics of randomly crosslinked liquids is addressed via a Rouse- and a Zimm-type model with crosslink statistics taken either from bond percolation or Erdoes-Renyi random graphs. While the Rouse-type model isolates the effects of the…
We study a chemical gelation model in two dimensions which includes both monomer aggregations and bond fluctuations. Our numerical simulation shows that a sol-gel transition occurs when an initial monomer concentration is above a critical…
Microgels made of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) are the prototype of soft, thermoresponsive particles widely used to study fundamental problems in condensed matter physics. However, their internal structure is far from homogeneous, and…
By means of molecular dynamics, we study the structure and the dynamics of a microscopic model for colloidal gels at low volume fractions. The presence of directional interactions leads to the formation of a persistent interconnected…
In polymers melts and supercooled liquids, the glassy dynamics is characterized by the rattling of monomers or particles in the cage formed by their neighbors. Recently, a direct correlation in such systems, described by a universal scaling…
The liquid structure of a glass-forming binary alloy is studied using molecular dynamics simulations. The analysis combines common neighbour analysis with the geometrical approach of Frank and Kasper to establish that the supercooled liquid…
Motivated by the structure of networks of cross-linked cytoskeletal biopolymers, we study the orientationally ordered phases in two-dimensional networks of randomly cross-linked semiflexible polymers. We consider permanent cross-links which…
We use theory and simulations to investigate the existence of amorphous glassy states in ultrasoft colloids. We combine the hyper-netted chain approximation with mode-coupling theory to study the dynamic phase diagram of soft repulsive…
Microgels are soft colloidal particles that, when dispersed in a solvent, swell and deswell in response to changes in environmental conditions, such as temperature, concentration, and $p$H. Using Monte Carlo simulation, we model bulk…
Polymerization and formation of crosslinked polymer networks are important processes in manufacturing, materials fabrication, and in the case of hydrated polymer networks, synthesis of biomedical materials, drug delivery, and tissue…
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…
We study a two-component model for gelation consisting of $f$-functional monomers (the gel) and inert particles (the solvent). After equilibration as a simple liquid, the gel particles are gradually crosslinked to each other until the…
In recent experiments involving PNIPAM copolymers it has been observed that stable spherical nanoparticles are being formed by association of several chains in poor aqueous solution instead of aggregation. This type of mesoscopic structures…