Dynamics in dense hard-sphere colloidal suspensions

Brownian Dynamics Simulations on Hard-Sphere Colloidal Suspensions

Dynamics of hard-sphere suspensions.

Direct observation of dynamical heterogeneities in colloidal hard-sphere suspensions

The real-space dynamics in a model system of colloidal hard spheres was studied by means of time-resolved fluorescence confocal scanning microscopy. Direct experimental evidence for the presence of dynamical heterogeneities in a dense liquid was obtained from an analysis of particle trajectories in two-dimensional slices of the bulk sample. These heterogeneities manifest themselves as a non-Gau...

Melting and crystallization of colloidal hard-sphere suspensions under shear.

Shear-induced melting and crystallization were investigated by confocal microscopy in concentrated colloidal suspensions of hard-sphere-like particles. Both silica and polymethylmethacrylate suspensions were sheared with a constant rate in either a countertranslating parallel plate shear cell or a counterrotating cone-plate shear cell. These instruments make it possible to track particles under...

Influence of confinement by smooth and rough walls on particle dynamics in dense hard-sphere suspensions.

We used video microscopy and particle tracking to study the dynamics of confined hard-sphere suspensions. Our fluids consisted of 1.1-microm-diameter silica spheres suspended at volume fractions of 0.33-0.42 in water-dimethyl sulfoxide. Suspensions were confined in a quasiparallel geometry between two glass surfaces: a millimeter-sized rough sphere and a smooth flat wall. First, as the separati...