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Updated: Mar 22, 2026

Methods of Ex Situ and In Situ Investigations of Structural Transformations: The Case of Crystallization of Metallic Glasses
Published on: June 7, 2018
Sensitivity of Granular Force Chain Orientation to Disorder-Induced Metastable Relaxation
N Iikawa1, M M Bandi2, H Katsuragi1
1Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Nagoya University, Nagoya 464-8601, Japan.
Abstract:
A two-dimensional system of photoelastic disks subject to vertical tapping against gravity was experimentally monitored from ordered to disordered configurations by varying bidispersity. The packing fraction ϕ, coordination number Z, and an appropriately defined force-chain orientational order parameter S all exhibit as similar sharp transition with a small increase in disorder. A measurable change in S, but not ϕ and Z, was detected under tapping. We find disorder-induced metastability does not show configurational relaxation, but can be detected via force-chain reorientations.
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