Non-equilibrium behaviour of colloid-polymer mixtures

W.C.K. Poon, A.D. Pirie, M.D. Haw and P.N. Pusey

Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, 1997, vol. 235, issue 1, 110-119

Abstract: Moderate concentrations of a small non-adsorbing polymer cause a suspension of colloidal particles to phase-separate into coexisting colloidal fluid and crystal via the ‘depletion’ mechanism. At higher polymer concentrations, crystallization is suppressed, and a variety of non-equilibrium aggregation behaviour is observed. We report the results of small-angle laser light scattering studies of aggregation in a model system - colloidal PMMA + polystyrene. In all cases, ‘rings’ in the small-angle scattering are observed. The different temporal behaviour of these small-angle scattering rings allowed us to classify the non-equilibrium region into three regimes, ‘nucleation-like’, ‘spinodal-like’ and ‘transient gelation’. It is suggested that non-equilibrium behaviour is ‘switched on’ by a hidden, metastable gas-liquid binodal. Different regimes of aggregation behaviour are controlled by the nucleation-spinodal cross-over and the transient percolation lines within this binodal.

Date: 1997
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:235:y:1997:i:1:p:110-119

DOI: 10.1016/S0378-4371(96)00332-9

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