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Combining Microfluidics and Microrheology to Determine Rheological Properties of Soft Matter during Repeated Phase Transitions
Published on: April 19, 2018
Key role of hydrodynamic interactions in colloidal gelation
Akira Furukawa1, Hajime Tanaka
1Institute of Industrial Science, University of Tokyo, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-8505, Japan.
Abstract:
Colloidal gelation is caused by the formation of a percolated network of colloidal particles suspended in a liquid. Thus far the major transport process leading to gelation has been believed to be the brownian diffusion of particles. Contrary to this common belief, we reveal by numerical simulations that many-body hydrodynamic interactions between colloidal particles also play an essential role in gelation: They significantly promote gelation, or lower the colloid volume fraction threshold for percolation, as compared to their absence. We find that the incompressible nature of a liquid component and the resulting self-organization of hydrodynamic flow with a transverse (rotational) character are responsible for this enhancement of network-forming ability.
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A solution is a homogeneous mixture composed of a solvent, the major component, and a solute, the minor component. The physical state of a solution—solid, liquid, or gas—is typically the same as that of the solvent. Solute concentrations are often described with qualitative terms such as dilute (of relatively low concentration) and concentrated (of relatively high concentration).
In a solution, the solute particles (molecules, atoms, and/or ions)...

