Effective Attractive Range and Viscoelasticity of Colloidal Gels

Abstract

We present a simulation study of colloidal particles having very short range attractions. In particular, we investigate the interplay between the effective attractive range and the viscoelastic properties of the gels that form when the temperature of the system is sufficiently low. Using Brownian dynamics simulations we study particles with different size and interaction range, and characterize the mechanical properties of the gels by performing small amplitude oscillatory and transient starts-up shear simulations. We found that the effective attractive range is a key parameter affecting the gel viscoelastic properties. The crossover frequency between the storage and loss moduli and the time to reach the maximum stress in the start-up test are both simple functions of the effective attractive range.

7 pages, 6 figures

References in corpus (2)

• Colloidal systems with competing interactions: from an arrested repulsive cluster phase to a gel
• Arrested phase separation in a short-ranged attractive colloidal system: A numerical study

Cited by in corpus (9)

• Stress localization, stiffening and yielding in a model colloidal gel
• Timescales in creep and yielding of attractive gels
• Long-lived neighbors determine the rheological response of glasses
• Computing the linear viscoelastic properties of soft gels using an Optimally Windowed Chirp protocol
• Stress Overshoots in Simple Yield Stress Fluids
• Residual stresses and shear-induced overaging in boehmite gels
• Wall Adhesion and Constitutive Modelling of Strong Colloidal Gels
• Continuum modelling of shear start-up in soft glassy materials
• Correction of Wall Adhesion Effects in Batch Settling of Strong Colloidal Gels