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arXiv · 1107.2853

Huge broadening of the crystal-fluid interface for sedimenting colloids

Elshad Allahyarov·Hartmut Löwen
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Abstract

For sedimenting colloidal hard spheres, the propagation and broadening of the crystal-fluid interface is studied by Brownian dynamics computer simulations of an initially homogeneous sample. Two different types of interface broadenings are observed: the first occurs during growth and is correlated with the interface velocity, the second is concomitant with the splitting of the crystal-fluid interface into the crystal-amorphous and amorphous-liquid interfaces. The latter width is strongly peaked as a function of the gravitational driving strength with a huge amplitude relative to its equilibrium counterpart.

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Elshad Allahyarov, Hartmut Löwen. 2011-07-14. Huge broadening of the crystal-fluid interface for sedimenting colloids. https://doi.org/10.1209/0295-5075%2F95%2F38004

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