Dynamical Arrest in Adhesive Hard-Sphere Dispersions Driven by Rigidity Percolation

Published

December 6, 2013

Author(s)

Nestor E. Valadez-Perez, Yun Liu, Aaron P. R. Eberle, Norman J. Wagner, Ramon Castaneda-Priego

Abstract

One major goal in condensed matter physics is identifying the physical mechanisms that lead to arrested states of matter, especially gels and glasses. The complex nature and microscopic details of each particular system are relevant. However, from both scientific and technological viewpoints, a general, consistent and unified definition is of paramount importance. Through Monte Carlo computer simulations of states identified in experiments, we demonstrate that adhesive hard-sphere dispersions are the result of rigidity percolation with average number of bonds, (Η_b), equals to 2:4. This corresponds to an established mechanism leading to phase transitions in network-forming materials. Our findings connect the concept of critical gel formation in colloidal suspensions with short-range attractive interactions to the universal concept of rigidity percolation. Furthermore, the bond, angular and local distributions along the gelation line are explicitly studied in order to determine the topology of the structure of the critical gel state.

Citation

Physical Review B

Volume

88

Issue

6

Pub Type

Journals

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Keywords

gelation, adhesive hard sphere

Citation

Valadez-Perez, N. , Liu, Y. , Eberle, A. , Wagner, N. and Castaneda-Priego, R. (2013), Dynamical Arrest in Adhesive Hard-Sphere Dispersions Driven by Rigidity Percolation, Physical Review B, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=914351 (Accessed October 16, 2025)