Stiffening colloidal gels by solid inclusions

The elastic properties of a soft matter material can be greatly altered by the presence of solid inclusions whose microscopic properties, such as their size and interactions, can have a dramatic effect. In order to shed light on these effects we use extensive rheology computer simulations to investi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Soft matter 2022-04, Vol.18 (14), p.2842-285
Main Authors: Ferreiro-Córdova, Claudia, Foffi, Giuseppe, Pitois, Olivier, Guidolin, Chiara, Schneider, Maxime, Salonen, Anniina
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Backbone
Colloids
Condensed Matter
Elastic properties
Gels
Inclusions
Mathematical models
Physics
Rheological properties
Rheology
Soft Condensed Matter
Stiffening
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Summary:The elastic properties of a soft matter material can be greatly altered by the presence of solid inclusions whose microscopic properties, such as their size and interactions, can have a dramatic effect. In order to shed light on these effects we use extensive rheology computer simulations to investigate colloidal gels with solid inclusions of different sizes. We show that the elastic properties vary in a highly non-trivial way as a consequence of the interactions between the gel backbone and the inclusions. In particular, we show that the key aspects are the presence of the gel backbone and its mechanical alteration originating from the inclusions. To confirm our observations and their generality, we performed experiments on an emulsion that presents strong analogies with colloidal gels and confirms the trends observed in the simulations. The elastic properties of a soft matter material can be greatly altered by the presence of solid inclusions whose microscopic properties, such as their size and interactions, can have a dramatic effect.
ISSN:1744-683X
1744-6848
DOI:10.1039/d1sm01555a