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Structural Measures as Guides to Ultrastable States in Overjammed Packings
Sangwoo Kim1, Sascha Hilgenfeldt2
1Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California 93106-5070, USA.
Physical Review Letters
|October 28, 2022
Summary
Researchers identified simple structural measures to classify energy in jammed particle packings. This method rapidly finds highly stable states, improving understanding of disordered materials.
Area of Science:
- Physics
- Materials Science
- Computational Science
Background:
- Jammed, disordered particle packings exhibit numerous equilibrium states with varying mechanical properties.
- Identifying specific stable states within these complex systems is challenging.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a method for classifying the energy of metastable states in 2D particle packings.
- To efficiently identify and construct low-energy, ultrastable packings.
Main Methods:
- Utilized simple scalar measures of local steric packing to classify the energy of metastable states (inherent structures).
- Developed a modified swap algorithm guided by these structural measures to anneal polydisperse packings.
- Tested the robustness of these measures against particle interaction potentials.
Main Results:
- Energy of metastable states in 2D packings is reliably classified by local steric packing measures.
- These measures are independent of the particle interaction potential, demonstrating robustness.
- The guided swap algorithm rapidly anneals packings toward low-energy metastable states.
- Identified ultrastable packings with exceptional stability against applied shear.
Conclusions:
- Simple local structural measures can effectively classify and guide the search for low-energy states in jammed packings.
- This approach offers an efficient pathway to construct highly stable materials with predictable mechanical properties.
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