Rheological aging and rejuvenation in microgel pastes

We have studied experimentally the rheological behavior of concentrated suspensions of soft deformable microgels below the yield point. We have found history-dependent effects which are interpreted in terms of aging and rejuvenation phenomena, analogous to those existing in glassy systems. The stress amplitude controls the long-time memory and determines the slow evolution of the suspensions.     

Aging, rejuvenation and memory phenomena in spin glasses

In this paper, we review several important features of the out-of-equilibrium dynamics of spin glasses. Starting with the simplest experiments, we discuss the scaling laws used to describe the isothermal aging observed in spin glasses after a quench down to the low-temperature phase. We report in particular new results on the sub-aging behaviour of spin glasses. We then discuss the rejuvenation and memory effects observed when a spin glass is submitted to temperature variations during aging, from the point of view of both energy landscape pictures and real-space pictures. We highlight the fact that both approaches point out the necessity of hierarchical processes involved in aging. Finally, we report an investigation of the effect of small temperature variations on aging in spin glass samples with various anisotropies which indicates that this hierarchy depends on the spin anisotropy.     

Rheological aging and rejuvenation in solid friction contacts

We study the low-velocity (0.1-100 μm s^-1) frictional properties of interfaces between a rough glassy polymer and smooth silanized glass, a configuration which gives direct access to the rheology of the adhesive joints in which shear localizes. We show that these joints exhibit the full phenomenology expected for confined quasi-2D soft glasses: they strengthen logarithmically when aging at rest, and weaken (rejuvenate) when sliding. Rejuvenation is found to saturate at large velocities. Moreover, aging at rest is shown to be strongly accelerated when waiting under finite stress below the static threshold. Received 20 February 2002 and Received in final form 16 May 2002     

Temperature chaos, rejuvenation, and memory in Migdal-Kadanoff spin glasses

We use simulations within the Migdal-Kadanoff approach to probe the scales relevant for rejuvenation and memory in Ising spin glasses. First we investigate scaling laws for domain wall free energies and extract the chaos overlap length l(T,T'). Then we perform out of equilibrium simulations that follow experimental protocols. We find that (1) a rejuvenation signal arises at a length scale significantly smaller than l(T,T'), and (2) memory survives even if equilibration goes out to length scales larger than l(T,T'). Theoretical justifications of these phenomena are then considered.     

Heterogeneous aging in spin glasses

We introduce a set of theoretical ideas that form the basis for an analytical framework capable of describing nonequilibrium dynamics in glassy systems. We test the resulting scenario by comparing its predictions with numerical simulations of short-range spin glasses. Local fluctuations and responses are shown to be connected by a generalized local out-of-equilibrium fluctuation-dissipation relation. Scaling relationships are uncovered for the slow evolution of heterogeneities at all time scales.     

A microscopic mechanism for rejuvenation and memory effects in spin glasses

Aging in spin glasses (and in some other systems) reveals astonishing effects of `rejuvenation and memory' upon temperature changes. In this paper, we propose microscopic mechanisms (at the scale of spin-spin interactions) which can be at the origin of such phenomena. Firstly, we recall that, in a frustrated system, the effective average interaction between two spins may take different values (possibly with opposite signs) at different temperatures. We give simple examples of such situations, which we compute exactly. Such mechanisms can explain why new ordering processes (rejuvenation) seem to take place in spin glasses when the temperature is lowered. Secondly, we emphasize the fact that inhomogeneous interactions do naturally lead to a wide distribution of relaxation times for thermally activated flips. `Memory spots' spontaneously appear, in the sense that the flipping time of some spin clusters becomes extremely long when the temperature is decreased. Such memory spots are capable of keeping the memory of previous ordering at a higher temperature while new ordering processes occur at a lower temperature. After a qualitative discussion of these mechanisms, we show in the numerical simulation of a simplified example that this may indeed work. Our conclusion is that certain chaos-like phenomena may show up spontaneously in any frustrated and inhomogeneous magnetic system, without impeding the occurrence of memory effects. Received 5 February 2001 and Received in final form 27 April 2001     

Full aging in spin glasses

The discovery of dynamic memory effects in the magnetization decays of spin glasses in 1983 marked a turning point in the study of the highly disordered spin glass state. Detailed studies of the memory effects have led to much progress in understanding the qualitative features of the phase space. Even so, the exact nature of the magnetization decay functions has remained elusive, causing confusion. In this Letter, we report strong evidence that the thermoremanent magnetization decays scale with the waiting time t(w). By employing a series of cooling protocols, we demonstrate that the rate at which the sample is cooled to the measuring temperature plays a major role in the determination of scaling. As the effective cooling time t(eff)(c) decreases, t/t(w) scaling improves and for t(eff)(c)<20 s we find almost perfect t/t(w) scaling, i.e., full aging.     

Generic rugged landscapes under strain and the possibility of rejuvenation in glasses

A strain-dependent random landscape model shows that many aspects of the mechanical response of disordered materials are universal, and arise from the rugged nature of the energy landscape. Simulations with this model demonstrate that states produced by mechanical deformation will generally be distinct from the states traversed during thermal aging. This behavior is a generic consequence of a rugged energy landscape, and is independent of any specific microstructure of the material. Thus, mechanical deformation does not literally "rejuvenate" a material, although the states produced by mechanical deformation may in some ways resemble less aged systems.     

Laponite: aging and shear rejuvenation of a colloidal glass

We study the nonlinear rheological behavior and the microscopic particle dynamics for a colloidal glass, to see whether recently developed models for driven glassy systems can be applied to predict the rheology. Qualitatively, all the findings predicted by the models can be retrieved in our system. Notably, the viscosity decreases strongly with the shear rate. Since it is difficult to predict non-Newtonian viscosities of colloidal systems due to long-ranged hydrodynamic interactions, this shows the promise of this approach for predicting flow behavior. In addition, the measurements allow us to relate the microscopic diffusion dynamics to the macroscopic viscosity of the system.     

Coexistence of aging states in spin glasses

The influence of temperature variations on the aging process of a Cu(Mn) spin glass has been investigated. It is found that the dynamics of the aging process is not very susceptible to small temperature variations around the measurement temperature. The astonishing possibility for the spin glass system to house two coexisting aging states is demonstrated.     

Frequency dependence of aging, rejuvenation and memory in a disordered ferroelectric

We characterize in details the aging properties of the ferroelectric phase of KTa_1-xNb_x O₃ (KTN), where both rejuvenation and (partial) memory are observed. In particular, we carefully examine the frequency dependence of several quantities that characterize aging, rejuvenation and memory. We find a marked subaging behaviour, with an a.c. dielectric susceptiblity scaling as ω, where t _w is the waiting time. We suggest an interpretation in terms of pinned domain walls, much along the lines proposed for aging in a disordered ferromagnet, where both domain wall reconformations and overall (cumulative) domain growth are needed to rationalize the experimental findings. Received 10 November 2000 and Received in final form 20 February 2001     

Atomistic simulation of slow grain boundary motion

Existing atomistic simulation techniques to study grain boundary motion are usually limited to either high velocities or temperatures and are difficult to compare to realistic experimental conditions. Here we introduce an adapted simulation method that can access boundary velocities in the experimental range and extract mobilities in the zero driving force limit at temperatures as low as ～0.2T(m) (T(m) is the melting point). The method reveals three mechanistic regimes of boundary mobility at zero net velocity depending on the system temperature.     

Structural evolution in deformation-induced rejuvenation in metallic glasses: A cavity perspective

Classical molecular dynamics simulations have been performed to investigate the structural evolution in deformationinduced rejuvenation in Cu_(80)Zr_(20) metallic glass. Metallic glasses obtained by different cooling rates can be rejuvenated into the glassy state with almost the same potential energy by compressive deformation. The aging effect in different metallic glasses in cooling process can be completely erased by the deformation-induced rejuvenation. The evolution of cavities has been analyzed to understand the structural evolution in rejuvenation. It is found that as metallic glasses are rejuvenated by mechanical deformation, a lot of cavities are created. The lower the potential energy is, the more the cavities are created. The cavities are mainly created in the regions without cavities or with small cavities populated, indicating that the irreversible rearrangements induced by deformation are accompanied by the creation of cavity. This finding elucidates the underlying structural basis for rejuvenation and aging in metallic glasses from the cavity perspective.     

Atomistic simulation of Mn-site substitution in multiferroic h-YMnO3

Atomistic simulation has been performed to systematically investigate the Mn-site doping of h-YMnO(3) (hexagonal yttrium manganese oxide). It is found that tetravalent dopants are the most energetically favorable for incorporation into a crystal lattice. For divalent dopants, hole compensation is the more likely charge compensation mechanism, whereas for dopants with mixed valence, the divalent state is the energetically preferred form. Structural and local polarization changes caused by Mn-site doping are also investigated. The tilting angle of the MnO(5) trigonal bipyramid is suppressed for all of the dopants investigated, with the reduction dependent on the dopant ion radius, while the influence on buckling is closely related to the valence of the dopants. Our results reveal that both electrostatic and size effects play important roles in the ferroelectric polarization of h-YMnO(3).     

Atomistic simulation of a superionic transition in UO2

The results of the atomistic simulation of a superionic transition and melting of uranium dioxide are presented. The temperature dependences of the concentration of defects in the oxygen sublattice and changes in the heat capacity and isothermal compressibility upon the superionic transition are calculated. It is shown that the curve of the superionic transition in the PT diagram can be described by the Ehrenfest’s equation. The possibility of describing the superionic transition within the framework of the theory of second- order phase transitions is discussed. Based on the results obtained, it is considered that this structural transformation can occur in other materials.     

Molecular theory of physical aging in polymer glasses

A molecular level theory for the physical aging of polymer glasses is proposed. The nonequilibrium time evolution of the amplitude of long wavelength density fluctuations, and its influence on activated barrier hopping, plays an essential role. The theory predicts temperature-dependent apparent power-law aging of the segmental relaxation time and logarithmic aging of thermodynamiclike properties, in good accord with experiments. A physical origin for the quantitative nonuniversal aspects based on the amplitude of quenched density fluctuations is suggested.     

Atomistic simulation of radiation damage to carbon nanotube

Damaging carbon nanotube upon energetic irradiation has been modeled with molecular-dynamics simulations. The angular dependence of the threshold energy of the primary knock-on atom (PKA) escaping from the tube is investigated in the initial PKA directions spanning half space. The average value of the threshold energy is calculated to be 19.3 eV. The simulations provided a detailed picture of the damaging processes, in which four mechanisms were revealed. The interactions between carbon atoms are described with the Tersoff mode modified to match a screened Coulomb potential at short range.     

Gravity-induced aging in glasses of colloidal hard spheres

The influence of gravity on the long-time behavior of the mean squared displacement in glasses of polydisperse colloidal hard spheres was studied by means of real-space fluorescent recovery after photobleaching. We present, for the first time, a significant influence of gravity on the mean squared displacements of the particles. In particular, we observe that systems which are glasses under gravity (with a gravitational length on the order of tens of micrometers) show anomalous diffusion over several decades in time if the gravitational length is increased by an order of magnitude. No influence of gravity was observed in systems below the glass transition density. We show that this behavior is caused by gravity dramatically accelerating aging in colloidal hard sphere glasses. This behavior explains the observation that colloidal hard sphere systems which are a glass on Earth rapidly crystallize in space.     

Atomistic simulation of the point defects in TaW ordered alloy

Combining molecular dynamics (MD) simulation with modified analytic embedded-atom method (MAEAM), the formation, migration and activation energies of the point defects for six-kind migration mechanisms in B₂-type TaW alloy have been investigated. The results showed that the anti-site defects Ta_W and W_Ta were easier to form than Ta and W vacancies owing to their lower formation energies. Comparing the migration and activation energies needed for six-kind migration mechanisms of a Ta (or W) vacancy, we found that one nearest-neighbour jump (1NNJ) was the most favourable because of its lowest migration and activation energies, but it would lead to a disorder in the alloy. One next-nearest-neighbour jump (1NNNJ) and one third-nearest-neighbour jump (1TNNJ) could maintain the ordered property of the alloy but required higher migration and activation energies. So the 1NNNJ and 1TNNJ should be replaced by straight [100] six nearest-neighbor cyclic jumps (S[100]6NNCJ) (especially) or bent [100] six nearest-neighbour cyclic jumps (B[100]6NNCJ) and [110] six nearest-neighbor cyclic jumps ([110]6NNCJ), respectively.