Structural characterization and statistical properties of jammed soft ellipsoid packing. Issue 10 (17th February 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Chen, Yinfei; Yuan, Ming; Wang, Zhichao; Zhao, Yu; Li, Jianqi; Hu, Bingwen; Xia, Chengjie
• Is Part Of: Soft matter. Volume 17:Issue 10(2021)
• Page Start: 2963
• Page End: 2972
• Publication Date: 2021-02-17
• Subjects: Soft condensed matter -- Periodicals; 530.413
• DOI: 10.1039/d0sm01699c
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1744-683X

Abstract

Abstract : Using MRI techniques, random packing structures of soft ellipsoids are reconstructed, showing drastically different statistical properties compared with hard-particle packing. Abstract : The jamming transition and jammed packing structures of hydrogel soft ellipsoids are studied using magnetic resonance imaging techniques. As the packing fraction increases, the fluctuation of local free volume decreases and the fluctuation of particle deformation increases. Effective thermodynamic quantities are obtained by characterizing these fluctuations using k -gamma distributions based on an underlying statistical model for granular materials. Surprisingly, the two granular temperatures measuring the relative fluctuations of both free volume and particle deformation remain basically unchanged as the packing fraction increases. The total configurational entropy is also approximately constant for packing with different packing fractions. The significantly different behaviors of these effective thermodynamic quantities compared with hard sphere systems are further attributed to a statistically affine structural transformation of the packing structures along with particle deformations when the packing fraction changes.