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SUMMARY:The mechanical response and the fluid-solid transitions of colloid
 al and polymer materials
DTSTART:20120615T141500
DTSTAMP:20260508T100007Z
UID:12228722cd9a51a0083afcc0e519ba533f971d9a45045820a24596a2
CATEGORIES:Conferences - Seminars
DESCRIPTION:Dr. Alessio Zaccone\, University of Cambridge\, Dept. of Physi
 cs\nColloids and polymers are the most common building blocks in the synth
 esis of organic materials and they play an important role in a variety of 
 natural and physiological processes (blood is a colloidal fluid\, while pr
 oteins\, DNA etc are all natural polymers). Recently\, colloidal nanoparti
 cles and polymers have been combined in various ways to form functional ma
 terials with enhanced mechanical and electronic properties\, such as e.g. 
 ultra-strong nanofilled elastomers or nanocomposite solar cells with enhan
 ced efficiency. In all these contexts\, it is necessary to understand how 
 the structure and the macroscopic response of the material originate from 
 the microscopic interactions between the building blocks (i.e. the interac
 tions between pairs of colloidal or polymer molecules in a given environme
 nt). Solving this complex many-body problem\, even approximately\, is vita
 l for the rational processing and design of any kind of organic and compos
 ite materials. In the first part\, I will focus on colloidal suspensions a
 nd explain the microscopic mechanism by which these liquid-like materials 
 turn into solid either in a quiescent fluid or under the action of an exte
 rnally imposed flow. In the second part\, I will report on recent progress
  in the understanding and theoretical description of how the elastic respo
 nse (rigidity) arises in structurally disordered systems (glass\, granular
  materials\, etc). This new theory is able to account for the subtle effec
 ts of structural disorder on the mechanical response. Further\, it provide
 s new answers at the molecular-level to fundamental unsolved problems such
  as the glass transition of polymers. Relevant industrial applications wil
 l also be touched on.
LOCATION:MXF 1 https://plan.epfl.ch/?room==MXF%201
STATUS:CONFIRMED
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