Skip navigation
  • Home
  • Browse
    • Communities
      & Collections
    • Browse Items by:
    • Publication Date
    • Author
    • Title
    • Subject
    • Department
  • Sign on to:
    • My MacSphere
    • Receive email
      updates
    • Edit Profile


McMaster University Home Page
  1. MacSphere
  2. Open Access Dissertations and Theses Community
  3. Open Access Dissertations and Theses
Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/11375/22349
Title: Rearrangement of 2D clusters of droplets under compression: from crystal to glass
Authors: Ono-dit-Biot, Jean-Christophe
Advisor: Dalnoki-Veress, Kari
Department: Physics and Astronomy
Keywords: Soft-Matter;Emulsion;Crystal-to-glass;Micropipette deflection
Publication Date: 2017
Abstract: Emulsions and colloidal suspensions have various industrial applications but are also used in laboratories as model systems for studying the different phases of matter. They are versatile as their nature, size and inter-particle interactions are easily tuneable. These systems are perfect for studying questions such as the phase transition. In this thesis, we investigate the transition from an ordered crystal to a disordered glass. Perfectly ordered crystals are modeled by clusters of highly monodisperse droplets. We study the transition toward a glassy system by mixing two monodisperse populations of droplets in different proportions. The clusters are compressed between two thin glass rods, one of which is a force transducer. The forces within the clusters are directly measured and used as an indicator of the composition of the cluster. Upon introduction of disorder, the number of peaks in the force measurement increases drastically. We find that the way the energy is dissipated in the cluster is valuable information to characterize the crystal-to-glass transition. In addition to the experimental study of the crystal-to-glass transition, we have developed an analytical model that is in full agreement with the experimental observations. A crystal is modeled as an assembly of Hookean springs that will store elastic energy until it reaches a fracture point. We are able to predict the number of peaks in the force measurements when defects are introduced using simple geometric arguments. From this prediction, the way the work is dissipated in a given transition can be predicted.
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/11375/22349
Appears in Collections:Open Access Dissertations and Theses

Files in This Item:
File Description SizeFormat 
OnoditBiot_JeanChristophe_finalsubmission201710_msc.pdf
Access is allowed from: 2019-04-03
MSc Thesis4.1 MBAdobe PDFView/Open
Show full item record Statistics


Items in MacSphere are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.

Sherman Centre for Digital Scholarship     McMaster University Libraries
©2022 McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4L8 | 905-525-9140 | Contact Us | Terms of Use & Privacy Policy | Feedback

Report Accessibility Issue