Related Experiment Video
Updated: Dec 18, 2025
09:09
Layer-by-layer Synthesis and Transfer of Freestanding Conjugated Microporous Polymer Nanomembranes
Published on: December 15, 2015
9.7K
Lindemann Unjamming of Emulsions
1Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.
Physical Review Letters
|June 13, 2020
Summary
The rigidity of jammed emulsions fails at high osmotic pressures due to a plastic-entropic instability, where thermal motion overcomes the solid structure. This study proposes a modified stability criterion and derives a scaling law for critical pressure.
Area of Science:
- Soft matter physics
- Colloid science
- Materials science
Background:
- Jammed emulsions exhibit solid-like elastic properties.
- Understanding the failure mechanisms of these soft solids is crucial.
- Athermal systems provide a simplified model for studying jamming transitions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the bulk and shear elastic properties of jammed emulsions.
- To identify the critical conditions leading to the failure of emulsion rigidity.
- To elucidate the underlying mechanism of this failure transition.
Main Methods:
- Experimental measurement of elastic properties (bulk and shear moduli).
- Analysis of yield strain and particle displacement near the transition.
- Theoretical modeling using a modified Lindemann stability criterion.
Main Results:
- Emulsion rigidity fails at remarkably large critical osmotic pressures.
- Failure is linked to a plastic-entropic instability.
- A scaling law for critical osmotic pressure was derived and validated experimentally.
Conclusions:
- The plastic-entropic instability governs the failure of jammed emulsion solids.
- The modified Lindemann criterion accurately describes the transition.
- The derived scaling law quantitatively matches experimental observations.