TY - JOUR
T1 - Subjamming transition in binary sphere mixtures
AU - Prasad, Ishan
AU - Santangelo, Christian
AU - Grason, Gregory
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 American Physical Society.
PY - 2017/11/20
Y1 - 2017/11/20
N2 - We study the influence of particle-size asymmetry on structural evolution of randomly jammed binary sphere mixtures with varying large-sphere and small-sphere composition. Simulations of jammed packings are used to assess the transition from large-sphere dominant to small-sphere dominant mixtures. For weakly asymmetric particle sizes, packing properties evolve smoothly, but not monotonically, with increasing small-sphere composition, f. Our simulations reveal that at high values of ratio α of large- to small-sphere radii (α≥αc≈5.75), evolution of structural properties, such as packing density, fraction of jammed spheres, and contact statistics with f, exhibit features that suggest a sharp transition, either through discontinuities in structural measures or their derivatives. We argue that this behavior is related to the singular, composition dependence of close-packing fraction predicted in infinite aspect ratio mixtures α→ by the Furnas model, but occurring for finite valued range of α above a critical value, αc≈5.75. The existence of a sharp transition from small- to large-f values for α≥αc can be attributed to the existence of a subjamming transition of small spheres within the interstices of jammed large spheres along the line of compositions fsub(α). We argue that the critical value of finite-size asymmetry αc≃5.75 is consistent with the geometric criterion for the transmission of small-sphere contacts between neighboring tetrahedrally close-packed interstices of large spheres, facilitating a cooperative subjamming transition of small spheres confined within the disjoint volumes.
AB - We study the influence of particle-size asymmetry on structural evolution of randomly jammed binary sphere mixtures with varying large-sphere and small-sphere composition. Simulations of jammed packings are used to assess the transition from large-sphere dominant to small-sphere dominant mixtures. For weakly asymmetric particle sizes, packing properties evolve smoothly, but not monotonically, with increasing small-sphere composition, f. Our simulations reveal that at high values of ratio α of large- to small-sphere radii (α≥αc≈5.75), evolution of structural properties, such as packing density, fraction of jammed spheres, and contact statistics with f, exhibit features that suggest a sharp transition, either through discontinuities in structural measures or their derivatives. We argue that this behavior is related to the singular, composition dependence of close-packing fraction predicted in infinite aspect ratio mixtures α→ by the Furnas model, but occurring for finite valued range of α above a critical value, αc≈5.75. The existence of a sharp transition from small- to large-f values for α≥αc can be attributed to the existence of a subjamming transition of small spheres within the interstices of jammed large spheres along the line of compositions fsub(α). We argue that the critical value of finite-size asymmetry αc≃5.75 is consistent with the geometric criterion for the transmission of small-sphere contacts between neighboring tetrahedrally close-packed interstices of large spheres, facilitating a cooperative subjamming transition of small spheres confined within the disjoint volumes.
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U2 - 10.1103/PhysRevE.96.052905
DO - 10.1103/PhysRevE.96.052905
M3 - Article
C2 - 29347783
AN - SCOPUS:85037134908
SN - 2470-0045
VL - 96
JO - Physical Review E
JF - Physical Review E
IS - 5
M1 - 052905
ER -