Cluster Crystals under Shear
- Author(s)
- Arash Nikoubashman, Gerhard Kahl, Christos Likos
- Abstract
We show that a distinct class of colloidal crystals, which consist of mutually overlapping particles, has a novel and universal response to steady shear. After a shear-banding regime at low shear rates, strings parallel to the flow direction form as shear grows, which order on a hexagonal crystal in the gradient-vorticity plane. At even higher shear, lateral fluctuations of the strings, enhanced by hydrodynamics, lead to a disordered, fluid state. Our results are based on appropriate simulation techniques that correctly account for hydrodynamics. We also find that shear vastly accelerates the nucleation rates of supercooled fluids into the cluster crystals.
- Organisation(s)
- Computational and Soft Matter Physics
- External organisation(s)
- Technische Universität Wien
- Journal
- Physical Review Letters
- Volume
- 107
- No. of pages
- 5
- ISSN
- 0031-9007
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.107.068302
- Publication date
- 2011
- Peer reviewed
- Yes
- Austrian Fields of Science 2012
- 103023 Polymer physics, 103036 Theoretical physics, 103015 Condensed matter, 103029 Statistical physics
- Portal url
- https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/0fdaaafb-7048-47cf-96a2-338133cdeb39