Department of Physics Papers
Document Type
Journal Article
Date of this Version
2010
Abstract
An exact method is developed for computing the height of an elastic medium subjected to centrifugal compression, for arbitrary constitutive relation between stress and strain. Example solutions are obtained for power-law media and for cases where the stress diverges at a critical strain—for example as required by packings composed of deformable but incompressible particles. Experimental data are presented for the centrifugal compression of thermo-responsive N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPA) microgel beads in water. For small radial acceleration, the results are consistent with Hertzian elasticity, and are analyzed in terms of the Young elastic modulus of the bead material. For large radial acceleration, the sample compression asymptotes to a value corresponding to a space-filling particle volume fraction of unity. Therefore we conclude that the gel beads are incompressible, and deform without deswelling. In addition, we find that the Young elastic modulus of the particulate gel material scales with cross-link density raised to the power 3.3±0.8, somewhat larger than the Flory expectation.
DownloadDate Posted: 27 October 2010
This document has been peer reviewed.
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Suggested Citation:
Nordstrom, K.N., E. Verneuil, W.G. Ellenbroek, T.C. Lubensky, J.P.Gollub and D.J. Durian. (2010). Centrifugal compression of soft particle packings: theory and experiment. Physical Review E. 82, 041403.
Copyright 2010 American Institute of Physics. This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and the American Institute of Physics.
The following article appeared in Physical Review E and may be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.82.041403.