Gravitational stability of suspensions of attractive colloidal particles.
Gravitational stability of suspensions of attractive colloidal particles.
C. Kim, Y. Liu, A. Kuhnle, S. Hess, S. Viereck, T. Danner, L. Mahadevan, and D. Weitz, Physical Review Letters , 99, 028303, 2007.
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Abstract
Colloidal suspensions are susceptible to gravitationally induced phase separation. This can be mitigated
by the formation of a particle network caused by depletion attraction. The effectiveness of this network in
supporting the buoyant weight of the suspension can be characterized by its compressional modulus. We
measure the compressional modulus for emulsion networks induced by depletion attraction and present a
model that quantitatively predicts their gravitational stability. We also determine the relationship between
the strength of the depletion attraction and the magnitude of the compressional modulus.