Issue 1, 2012
From the journal:

Soft Matter

Does size matter? Elasticity of compressed suspensions of colloidal- and granular-scale microgels†

Paul Menut,‡ab   Sebastian Seiffert,‡acd   Joris Sprakelae  and  David A. Weitz*a  

* Corresponding authors

a Harvard University, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and Department of Physics, 29 Oxford Street, Cambridge, USA
E-mail: weitz@seas.harvard.edu

b UMR IATE, SupAgro, INRA, CIRAD, UM2, 2plViala, Montpellier, France

c Helmholtz Zentrum Berlin, F-I2 Soft Matter and Functional Materials, Hahn-Meitner-Platz 1, Berlin, Germany

d FU Berlin, Institute of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Takustr.3, Berlin, Germany

e Laboratory of Physical Chemistry and Colloid Science, Wageningen University, Dreijenplein 6, Wageningen, The Netherlands

Abstract

We investigate the mechanics of dense packing of very small, colloidal-scale, and larger, granular-scale microgel particles. At low particle concentration, thermally induced Brownian motion of the particles is important for the colloidal-scale systems; in contrast, such Brownian motion is irrelevant at particle packing fractions beyond jamming. As a consequence, colloidal and granular systems behave very similarly under these conditions. At sufficiently high compression of the microgel particles, their polymeric nature sets the scale of the osmotic pressure and shear modulus of the whole packing, in direct analogy with macroscopic, continuous polymer gels. This observation suggests that the particulate nature of microgels is inconsequential for their linear elasticity in a highly packed state. In contrast, the particulate nature of the microgels does become essential when the packed suspensions are forced to yield and flow; here, the differences between colloidal- and granular-scale particles are marked.

Graphical abstract: Does size matter? Elasticity of compressed suspensions of colloidal- and granular-scale microgels

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Article information

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1039/C1SM06355C
Article type
Paper
Submitted
18 Jul 2011
Accepted
26 Sep 2011
First published
21 Oct 2011

Soft Matter, 2012,8, 156-164

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Does size matter? Elasticity of compressed suspensions of colloidal- and granular-scale microgels

P. Menut, S. Seiffert, J. Sprakel and D. A. Weitz, Soft Matter, 2012, 8, 156 DOI: 10.1039/C1SM06355C

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