Depletion interaction of casein micelles and an exocellular polysaccharide

Casein micelles become mutually attractive when an exocellular polysaccharide produced by Lactococcus lactis subsp. cremoris NIZO B40 (hereafter called EPS) is added to skim milk. The attraction can be explained as a depletion interaction between the casein micelles induced by the nonadsorbing EPS. We used three scattering techniques (small-angle neutron scattering, turbidity measurements, and dynamic light scattering) to measure the attraction. In order to connect the theory of depletion interaction with experiment, we calculated structure factors of hard spheres interacting by a depletion pair potential. Theoretical predictions and all the experiments showed that casein micelles became more attractive upon increasing the EPS concentration.     

Directing colloidal self-assembly through roughness-controlled depletion attractions

The surfaces of colloidal particles resulting from many new fabrication methods are not molecularly smooth, so understanding how surface roughness can affect the depletion attraction between the particles and their assembly is very important. We show that the depletion attraction between custom-shaped microscale platelets can be suppressed when the nanoscale surface asperity heights become larger than the depletion agent. In the opposite limit, the attraction reappears and columnar stacks of platelets are formed. Exploiting this, we selectively increase the site-specific roughness on only one side of the platelets to direct the mass production of a single desired assembly: a pure dimer phase.     

Stabilization of colloidal suspensions by means of highly charged nanoparticles

We employ a novel Monte Carlo simulation scheme to elucidate the stabilization of neutral colloidal microspheres by means of highly charged nanoparticles [Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 98, 8950 (2001))]]. In accordance with the experimental observations, we find that small nanoparticle concentrations induce an effective repulsion that prevents gelation caused by the intrinsic van der Waals attraction between colloids. Higher nanoparticle concentrations induce an attractive potential which is, however, qualitatively different from the regular depletion attraction. We also show how colloid-nanoparticle size asymmetry and nanoparticle charge can be used to manipulate the effective interactions.     

流体饱和孔隙材料的Biot弹性常数的声学测量

本文研究用声学方法测量流体饱和孔隙介质的Biot4个弹性常数，4个弹性常数主要是通过测量水饱和的孔隙样品中的3种体波速度去计算的（流体压缩系数已知）。为了讨论和验证测量结果，我们还进行了两个实验，一是测量空气饱和样品的切变波速度和纵波速度，并求得框架的体积模量和切变模量；二是测量空气饱和样品中的慢纵波速度，并验证样品曲折度的大小。     

玻璃-橡胶混合颗粒体系的弹性行为研究

废旧橡胶制品颗粒与砂土颗粒混合物作为建筑填充材料具有环保、轻质、减震效果好等特点.软硬组分的混合比例可以调制体系力学性能从而实现兼顾材料柔韧性与强度的需求,但细观层面上材料性能改变的原因尚不明确.本文主要研究玻璃-橡胶混合颗粒体系的弹性行为及其微观机制.利用飞行时间法测量混合材料等效动弹性模量,发现随着橡胶颗粒增加,体系逐渐从类玻璃刚性行为转变为类橡胶柔性行为.离散元模拟结果与实验结果类似.此外,模拟显示低橡胶颗粒占比样品内主要由玻璃颗粒构成主力链结构,而橡胶颗粒基本不参与强力链的构成.当橡胶颗粒占比较大时,玻璃颗粒和橡胶颗粒共同构成主力链网络结构,但颗粒间法向接触力分布相对更为均匀,可视为玻璃颗粒悬浮于橡胶颗粒中.基于上述结果,提出了改进的等效介质理论,用于描述混合颗粒体系的弹性行为.研究认为:橡胶颗粒占比较小时内部颗粒的变形相对均匀,材料近似满足等应变假设,视为并联弹簧模型;橡胶颗粒占比较大时混合材料近似满足等应力假设,视为串联弹簧模型.两种模型得到的结果与模拟结果一致.上述结果有利于从微观角度揭示混合颗粒材料弹性行为的变化机制.     

孔隙介质中快纵波的衰减特性和动力协调现象

依据Biot理论并采用前人的骨架模量孔隙度关系,计算了弹性波在孔隙介质中的衰减曲线,发现快纵波存在零衰减点.为解释这种现象,分析了孔隙流体相对于骨架运动的特点.结果表明,存在快纵波动力协调介质,快纵波在这种介质中传播时,流体和骨架之间无宏观相对位移,因此无论频率多高,流体粘滞系数多大,快纵波都不衰减.一个引申的结论是,在动力协调的渗透性孔隙介质中,即使存在双电层,快纵波也不产生流动电势.     

Interactions between colloids induced by a soft cross-linked polymer substrate

Using videomicroscopy imaging, we demonstrate the existence of a short-ranged equilibrium attraction between heavy silica colloids diffusing on soft surfaces of cross-linked polymer gels. The intercolloid potential can be tuned by changing the gel stiffness or by coating the colloids with a polymer layer. On sufficiently soft substrates, the interaction induced by the polymer matrix leads to large-scale colloidal aggregation. We correlate the in-plane interaction with a colloid-surface attraction.     

Dispersion relation of lipid membrane shape fluctuations by neutron spin-echo spectrometry

We have studied the mesoscopic shape fluctuations in aligned multilamellar stacks of 1,2-dimyristoyl-sn-glycero-3-phoshatidylcholine bilayers using the neutron spin-echo technique. The corresponding in plane dispersion relation tau-1(q//) at different temperatures in the gel (ripple, Pbeta') and the fluid (Lalpha) phase of this model system has been determined. Two relaxation processes, one at about 10 ns and a second, slower process at about 100 ns can be quantified. The dispersion relation in the fluid phase is fitted to a smectic hydrodynamic theory, with a correction for finite qz resolution. We extract values for the bilayer bending rigidity kappa, the compressional modulus of the stacks B, and the effective sliding viscosity eta3. The softening of a mode which can be associated with the formation of the ripple structure is observed close to the main phase transition.     

布里渊散射决定0.67Pb(Mg_(1/3)Nb_(2/3))O_3-0.33PbTiO_3单晶的弹性、压电和介电常数(英文)

我们报道了用高分辨布里渊散射,确定0.67Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-0.33PbTiO3单晶中的弹性、压电和介电常数.所有的实验数据都是在一块沿[001]方向的极化的单晶样品上获得的。我们实验中得到的这些常数的数值和以往超声共振技术获得的数值相似。我们还研究了压缩模和剪切模在(010)和(001)平面内的方向依赖性。TA1和TA2模式的强度对散射角度有很强列依赖性。在散射角度为45°~65°内,一个新的峰出现在~18 GHz附近。它可能与晶体中的微观不均匀性或者局域微结构相关。     

Depletion effects and loop formation in self-avoiding polymers

Langevin dynamics is employed to study the looping kinetics of self-avoiding polymers both in ideal and crowded solutions. A rich kinetics results from the competition of two crowding-induced effects: the depletion attraction and the enhanced viscous friction. For short chains, the enhanced friction slows down looping, while for longer chains, the depletion attraction renders it more frequent and persistent. We discuss the possible relevance of the findings for chromatin looping in living cells.     

Determination of viral capsid elastic properties from equilibrium thermal fluctuations

We apply two-dimensional elasticity theory to viral capsids to develop a framework for calculating elastic properties of viruses from equilibrium thermal fluctuations of the capsid surface in molecular dynamics and elastic network model trajectories. We show that the magnitudes of the long wavelength modes of motion available in a simulation with all atomic degrees of freedom are recapitulated by an elastic network model. For the mode spectra to match, the elastic network model must be scaled appropriately by a factor which can be determined from an icosahedrally constrained all-atom simulation. With this method we calculate the two-dimensional Young's modulus Y, bending modulus κ, and F?ppl-von Kármán number γ, for the T=1 mutant of the Sesbania mosaic virus. The values determined are in the range of previous theoretical estimates.     

计算平均力势的理论方法

提出了一个用于计算平均力势的普适性的理论框架,方法克服了以前的方法的缺陷,仅仅需要溶剂粒子在单个溶质粒子附近的密度分布作为输入.计算了两个大尺寸溶质粒子浸在小尺寸硬球溶剂浴中的平均力势,理论预言与可能的模拟数据符合.调查了溶剂-溶质相互作用势、溶剂密度、溶质粒子尺寸对过量平均力势的影响.结论是:溶剂粒子在单个溶质粒子附近的减少导致吸引的过量平均力势,而溶剂粒子在单个溶质粒子附近的聚集导致排斥的过量平均力势,高溶剂密度与大溶质粒子尺寸能强化这种趋势.讨论了这种空耗吸引-聚集排斥与生物学中的疏水吸引-水化排斥的联系.     

Strong optical force induced by morphology-dependent resonances

We consider the resonant optical force acting on a pair of transparent microspheres by the excitation of morphology-dependent resonance (MDR). The bonding and antibonding modes of the MDR correspond to strong attraction and repulsion, respectively. The dependence of the force on separation and the role of absorption are discussed. At resonance, the force can be enhanced by orders of magnitude such that it will dominate other relevant forces. We found that a stable binding configuration can be induced by the resonant optical force.     

Material property estimates from ultrasound attenuation in fibre suspensions

An investigation of a new method for measuring fibre material properties from ultrasonic attenuation in a dilute suspension of synthetic fibres of uniform geometry is presented. The method is based on inversely solving an ultrasound scattering and absorption model of suspended fibres in water for the material properties of the fibres. Experimental results were obtained from three suspensions of nylon 66 fibres each with different fibre diameters. A forward solution to the model with reference material values is compared to experimental data to verify the model’s behaviour. Estimates of the shear and Young’s modulus, the compressional wave velocity, Poisson’s ratio and loss tangent from nylon 66 fibres are compared to data available from other sources. Experimental data confirms that the model successfully predicts that the resonance features in the frequency response of the attenuation are a function of diameter. Consistent estimated values for the compressional wave velocity and the Poisson’s ratio were found to be difficult to obtain but in combination gave values of shear modulus within previously reported values and with low sensitivity to noise. Young’s modulus was underestimated by 54% but was consistent and had low sensitivity to noise. The underestimation is believed to be caused by the assumption of isotropic material used in the model. Additional tests on isotropic fibre would confirm this. Further analysis of the model sensitivity and the reasons for the resonance features are required.     

Effects of size polydispersity on depletion interactions

The depletion potentials between two infinite planes, and between two large spheres, due to polydisperse mixtures of non-interacting polymer coils and of interacting small hard spheres, are calculated over a wide range of polydispersities and of polymer or colloid concentrations. The case of non-interacting polymers can be treated analytically within a generalization of the Asakura-Oosawa model. The more difficult case of a polydisperse bath of hard spheres is treated within Rosenfield's ‘fundamental measure’ formulation of density functional theory. Polydispersity is found to have little effect on the depletion attraction, but to strongly reduce the repulsive barrier due to correlation and to damp the subsequent oscillations in the depletion potential.     

Cosmological moduli problem from thermal effects

We estimate the cosmological abundance of a modulus field that has dilatonic couplings to gauge fields, paying particular attention to thermal corrections on the modulus potential. We find that a certain amount of the modulus coherent oscillations is necessarily induced by a linear thermal effect. We argue that such an estimate provides the smallest possible modulus abundance for a given thermal history of the Universe. As an example we apply our results to a saxion, a bosonic supersymmetric partner of an axion, and derive a tight bound on the reheating temperature. We emphasize that the problem cannot be avoided by fine-tuning the initial deviation of the modulus field, since the minimal amount of the modulus is induced by the dynamics of the scalar potential.     

Suppressing and enhancing depletion attractions between surfaces roughened by asperities

By decorating the surfaces of smooth, flat platelets with hemispheroidal asperities and calculating the overlapping excluded volume of spherical depletion agents as two platelets approach face to face, we determine the depletion interaction potential for both ordered and disordered surface asperities. Depending on the surface morphologies, the depletion attraction between rough surfaces can be either dramatically reduced or amplified. A phase diagram of roughened Janus platelets is calculated and agrees well with prior experiments. This model explains the observed self-assembly of rough platelets and provides quantitative predictions of roughness-controlled depletion attractions for conditions that have not yet been explored experimentally.     

Structure and rheological properties of model microemulsion networks filled with nanoparticles

Model microemulsion networks of oil droplets stabilized by non-ionic surfactant and telechelic polymer C18 -PEO(10k)- C18 have been studied for two droplet-to-polymer size ratios. The rheological properties of the networks have been measured as a function of network connectivity and can be described in terms of simple percolation laws. The network structure has been characterised by Small Angle Neutron Scattering (SANS). A Reverse Monte Carlo (RMC) approach is used to demonstrate the interplay of attraction and repulsion induced by the copolymer. These model networks are then used as matrix for the incorporation of silica nanoparticles (R = 10 nm), individual dispersion being checked by scattering. A strong impact on the rheological properties is found for silica volume fractions up to 9%. q(A-1).     

Thinning transitions in free-standing liquid-crystal films as the successive formation of dislocation loops

We describe a model for the layer-thinning transition in free-standing liquid-crystal films based on the successive, spontaneous formation of dislocation loops. As the film temperature increases and the smectic order and layer compressional modulus decrease, the condition for creating a dislocation loop of critical radius is met and a thinning is nucleated. The resulting equation for N, the number of smectic layers, as a function of temperature yields good fitting results to the thinning transitions obtained from several fluorinated compounds.     

Growth instabilities of vapor deposited films: atomic size versus deflection effect

Two previously suggested, physically distinct mechanisms for a growth instability of vapor deposited films, the finite atomic size effect and the particle deflection effect due to interatomic attraction, are reconsidered, further analyzed, and compared. We substantiate why the instability caused by interatomic attraction must be considered as the truly underlying instability mechanism. We demonstrate that aspects of the structure zone model of Movchan and Demchishin can also be consistently explained using the growth instability induced by particle deflection instead of the instability arising from the atomic size effect. Most significantly we show that, for vapor deposited amorphous Zr₆₅Al_7.5Cu_27.5-films, the growth instability due to the atomic size effect cannot be present. Received 12 December 2001 Published online 6 June 2002