Many soft-matter systems show a transition between fluidlike and mechanically solidlike states when the volume fraction of the material, e.g., particles, drops, or bubbles is increased. Using an emulsion as a model system with a precisely controllable volume fraction, we show that the entire mechanical behavior in the vicinity of the jamming point can be understood if the mechanical transition ...

Sn is a classical superconductor on the border between type I and type II with critical temperature of 3.7 K. We show that its critical parameters can be dramatically increased if it is brought in the form of loosely bound bundles of thin nanowires. The specific heat displays a pronounced double phase transition at 3.7 K and 5.5 K, which we attribute to the inner 'bulk' contribution of the nano...

The volume transition induced by the addition of calcium into lightly cross-linked fully neutralized sodium polyacrylate hydrogels, swollen in 40 mM NaCl solutions, is investigated by osmotic swelling pressure and small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) measurements. In this reversible transition, the polymer volume fraction æ changes by more than an order of magnitude. The longitudinal osmotic m...

Recent studies show that volume fractions φ(J) at the jamming transition of frictionless hard spheres and disks are not uniquely determined but exist over a continuous range. Motivated by this observation, we numerically investigate the dependence of φ(J) on the initial configurations of the parent fluid equilibrated at a volume fraction φ(eq), before compressing to generate a jammed packing. W...

High-pressure in situ angular dispersive x-ray diffraction study on the wurtzite-type InN nanowires has been carried out by means of the image-plate technique and diamond-anvil cell (DAC) up to about 31.8 GPa. The pressure-induced structural transition from the wurtzite to a rocksalt-type phase occurs at about 14.6 GPa, which is slightly higher than the transition pressure of InN bulk materials...

Monte Carlo simulations were performed on multichain, semiflexible polymer systems with excluded volume confined to a diamond lattice, and the requirements for a phase transition between a globally random and a globally anisotropic phase were explored. For chains composed of n = 12 and 24 beads packed a t volume fractions 0.5 and 0.75, a transition to a globally ordered phase is not observed if...

Rod-like colloidal particles are known to display an isotropic-nematic phase transition on increase of concentration, as predicted already by Onsager. Both natural clay particles and synthetic rods tend to be polydisperse, however, and the question arises how to allow for this in comparing experimental observations with theory. Experimental data for a wide range of samples (both from the litera...

The purpose of this investigation was to investigate the rheological properties of four commercially available gutta perchas for root canal filling. The relaxation modulus [Gr(0): instantaneous shear modulus] and specific volume of their materials were examined. In addition, the quantity of heat was also studied by differential scanning calorimeter. In a lower temperature range than the first-o...

We present a comprehensive investigation of the volume transition in thermosensitive core-shell particles. The particles consist of asolid co re of poly (styrene) (radius: 52 nm) onto which a network of crosslinked poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) is affixed . The degree of crossIinking of the PNIP AM shell effected by the crosslinker N,N' -methylenebisacrylamide was va ried between 1.25 an...