Ariel Diaz-De Armas | Searcharxiv

arXiv2018

Uniform phases in fluids of hard isosceles triangles: one component and binary mixtures

We formulate the scaled particle theory for a general mixture of hard isosceles triangles and calculate different phase diagrams for the one-component fluid and for certain binary mixtures. The fluid of hard triangles exhibits a complex phase behavior: (i) the presence of a triatic phase with sixfold symmetry, (ii) the isotropic-uniaxial nematic transition is of first order for certain ranges of aspect ratios, and (iii) the one-component system exhibits nematic-nematic transitions ending in critical points. We found the triatic phase to be stable not only for equilateral triangles but also for triangles of similar aspect ratios. We focus the study of binary mixtures on the case of symmetric mixtures: equal particle areas with aspect ratios ($κ_i$) symmetric with respect to the equilateral one: $κ_1κ_2=3$. For these mixtures we found, aside from first-order isotropic-nematic and nematic-nematic transitions (the latter ending in a critical point): (i) A region of triatic phase stability even for mixtures made of particles that do not form this phase at the one-component limit, and (ii) the presence of a Landau point at which two isotropic-nematic first-order transitions and a nematic-nematic demixing transition coalesce. This phase behavior is analog to that of a symmetric three-dimensional mixture of rods and plates.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2017

Role of length-polydispersity on the phase behavior of freely-rotating hard-rectangle fluid

We used the Density Functional formalism, in particular the Scaled Particle Theory, applied to a length-polydisperse hard-rectangular fluid to study its phase behavior as a function of the mean particle aspect ratio ($κ_0$) and polydispersity ($Δ_0$). The numerical solutions of the coexistence equations were calculated by transforming the original problem with infinite degrees of freedoms to a finite set of equations for the amplitudes of the Fourier expansion of the moments of the density profiles. We divided the study into two parts: The first one is devoted to the calculation of the phase diagrams in the packing fraction ($η_0$)- $κ_0$ plane for a fixed $Δ_0$ and selecting parent distribution functions with exponential (the Schulz distribution) or Gaussian decays. In the second part we study the phase behavior in the $η_0$-$Δ_0$ plane for fixed $κ_0$ while $Δ_0$ is changed. We characterize in detail the orientational ordering of particles and the fractionation of different species between the coexisting phases. Also we study the character (second vs. first order) of the Isotropic-Nematic phase transition as a function of polydispersity. We particularly focused on the stability of the Tetratic phase as a function of $κ_0$ and $Δ_0$. The Isotropic-Nematic transition becomes strongly of first order when polydispersity is increased: the coexisting gap widens and the location of the tricritical point moves to higher values of $κ_0$ while the Tetratic phase is slightly destabilized with respect to the Nematic one. The results obtained here can be tested in experiments on shaken monolayers of granular rods.

cond-mat.soft↗