Irreversible hardening of a colloidal gel under shear: The smart response of natural rubber latex gels

Stress-independent delay time in yielding of dilute colloidal gels

We investigate the yielding under shear for dilute poly(N-isopropyl acrylamide-co-fumaric acid) (PNIPAM-FAc) colloidal gels obtained above the volume phase transition temperature. In this temperature range, the microgel suspensions form colloidal gels due to hydrophobic interparticle interactions under appropriate pH and ionic strength conditions. Step-strain tests revealed that yielding occurs when the applied strain exceeds a specific threshold, requiring a finite, stress-independent delay time (tD). This is distinct from previous findings on delayed yielding in other colloidal gels, where tD decreases with increasing stress. In the start-up shear tests, yield strain (γy) at a higher strain rate () increases with escalating , while γy at lower  remains constant. This characteristic γy- relationship is successfully explained by a simple model using the stress-independent tD value without an adjustable fitting parameter. The distinctive yielding behavior, underscored by a stress-independent tD, is expected to originate from strain-induced macroscopic phase separation into a dense colloidal gel and water, observable separately from rheological measurements.

Tuning local microstructure of colloidal gels by ultrasound-activated deformable inclusions

Colloidal gels possess a memory of previous shear events, both steady and oscillatory. This memory, embedded in the microstructure, affects the mechanical response of the gel, and therefore enables precise tuning of the material properties under careful preparation. Here we demonstrate how the dynamics of a deformable inclusion, namely a bubble, can be used to locally tune the microstructure of a colloidal gel. We examine two different phenomena of bubble dynamics that apply a local strain to the surrounding material: dissolution due to gas diffusion, with a characteristic strain rate of ∼10^-3 s^-1; and volumetric oscillations driven by ultrasound, with a characteristic frequency of ∼10⁴ s^-1. We characterise experimentally the microstructure of a model colloidal gel around bubbles in a Hele-Shaw geometry using confocal microscopy and particle tracking. In bubble dissolution experiments, we observe the formation of a pocket of solvent next to the bubble surface, but marginal changes to the microstructure. In experiments with ultrasound-induced bubble oscillations, we observe a striking rearrangement of the gel particles into a microstructure with increased local ordering. High-speed bright-field microscopy reveals the occurrence of both high-frequency bubble oscillations and steady microstreaming flow; both are expected to contribute to the emergence of the local order in the microstructure. These observations open the way to local tuning of colloidal gels based on deformable inclusions controlled by external pressure fields.

A new fractal structural-mechanical theory of particle-filled colloidal networks with heterogeneous stress translation

This work addresses the role of rigid inclusions in determining the elastic modulus of particle-filled colloidal networks by modifying an established fractal scaling model. The approach acknowledges the heterogeneous nature of stress distribution at length scales beyond the colloidal aggregates, while maintaining structural information at the level of individual clusters. This was achieved by introducing a scaling factor to account for system heterogeneity which contains intrinsic information about the network's capacity to form load-bearing links. Rigid fillers bound to the network induce stress concentration, but additionally serve as junction zones which introduce additional load-bearing pathways. This gives rise to the observed increase in the modulus with filler volume fraction. The proposed relationship between the load-bearing network connectivity and scaling behavior may have additional implications on the fractal dimension determined by rheological methods. Further, this model accommodates an experimentally observed correlation between the scaling behavior of the modulus associated with the addition of fillers and that arising from increasing structurant concentration. The modified fractal model thus provides an alternative view of how fillers contribute to the small- and large-deformation mechanical behavior of filled colloidal gels in a manner consistent with experimental observations.

Combined effects of ionic strength and enzymatic pre-treatment in thermal gelation of peanut proteins extracts

Peanut proteins are mostly composed of arachins and conarachins, globular proteins that can form gels under thermal denaturation or enzymatic treatment. We explored here how ionic strength (0.5 M or 0.8 M) and gelation process (a thermal treatment preceded or not by an enzymatic pre-treatment) could affect peanut protein gel properties. Gel formation and final properties were characterized by rheology, and gel structure was observed by confocal microscopy. We found that the ionic strength imposed during protein extraction determines the arachins/conarachins ratio, and that conarachins-rich samples give stronger gels, which is attributed to their higher content in free thiol groups and lysine residues. The gel storage modulus exhibited a power-law dependence with the protein concentration, which exponent depended on the gelation process. Rheological results, together with confocal microscopy imaging, showed that an enzymatic pre-treatment resulted in denser structures than when a simple thermal treatment was applied.

Rheology of protein-stabilised emulsion gels envisioned as composite networks 1- Comparison of pure droplet gels and protein gels

HYPOTHESIS

Protein-stabilised emulsion gels can be studied in the theoretical framework of colloidal gels, because both protein assemblies and droplets may be considered as soft colloids. These particles differ in their nature, size and softness, and these differences may have an influence on the rheological properties of the gels they form.

EXPERIMENTS

Pure gels made of milk proteins (sodium caseinate), or of sub-micron protein-stabilised droplets, were prepared by slow acidification of suspensions at various concentrations. Their microstructure was characterised, their viscoelasticity, both in the linear and non-linear regime, and their frequency dependence were measured, and the behaviour of the two types of gels was compared.

FINDINGS

Protein gels and droplet gels were found to have broadly similar microstructure and rheological properties when compared at fixed volume fraction, a parameter derived from the study of the viscosity of the suspensions formed by proteins and by droplets. The viscoelasticity displayed a power law behaviour in concentration, as did the storage modulus in frequency. Additionally, strain hardening was found to occur at low concentration. These behaviours differed slightly between protein gels and droplet gels, showing that some specific properties of the primary colloidal particles play a role in the development of the rheological properties of the gels.