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arXiv · 1811.00711

Universal Kinetics of the Sol-to-Gel Transition

Pai Liu·William R. Heinson·Christopher M. Sorensen·Rajan K. Chakrabarty
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Abstract

A comprehensive theory encompassing the kinetics of sol-to-gel transition is yet to be formulated due to break-down of the mean-field Smoluchowski Equation. Using high temporal-resolution Monte Carlo simulation of irreversible aggregation systems, we show that this transition has three distinct regimes with kinetic exponent z ranging between 1 and 2, corresponding to aggregation of sol clusters proceeding to the ideal gel point (IGP); z ranging between 2 and 5.7 for gelation of sol clusters beyond IGP; and z ranging between 2 and 3.5 for a hitherto unidentified regime involving aggregation of gels when monomer-dense. We further establish universal power-law scaling relationships that connect the kinetics of these three regimes.

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Pai Liu, William R. Heinson, Christopher M. Sorensen, Rajan K. Chakrabarty. 2018-11-02. Universal Kinetics of the Sol-to-Gel Transition. https://arxiv.org/abs/1811.00711

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