Nucleation in sheared granular matter

Abstract

We present an experiment on crystallization of packings of macroscopic granular spheres. This system is often considered to be a model for thermally driven atomic or colloidal systems. Cyclically shearing a packing of frictional spheres, we observe a first order phase transition from a disordered to an ordered state. The ordered state consists of crystallites of mixed FCC and HCP symmetry that coexist with the amorphous bulk. The transition, initiated by homogeneous nucleation, overcomes a barrier at 64.5% volume fraction. Nucleation consists predominantly of the dissolving of small nuclei and the growth of nuclei that have reached a critical size of about ten spheres.

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• Rigidity transition of a highly compressible granular medium
• Phases of granular matter
• Topological signatures of collective dynamics and turbulent-like energy cascades in apolar active granular
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• Direct observation of crystal nucleation and growth in a quasi-two-dimensional nonvibrating granular system
• Equivalence between random close packing in granular matter and freezing in the hard sphere model
• Diffusion and velocity correlations of the phase transitions in a system of macroscopic rolling spheres