Se. Paulin et al., EQUILIBRIUM AND SHEAR-INDUCED NONEQUILIBRIUM PHASE-BEHAVIOR OF PMMA MICROGEL SPHERES, Journal of colloid and interface science, 178(1), 1996, pp. 251-262
Polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) spheres suspended in benzyl alcohol are
found to swell to more than two times that of their dry radius and hav
e been observed to undergo an equilibrium phase transition from liquid
to crystalline structure with increasing concentration. The width of
the coexistence region is found to be narrower by nearly half compared
to simulation results for hard sphere systems. Comparison of the meas
ured freezing point and fractional density change upon melting with th
ose calculated from soft sphere simulations are consistent with a pure
ly repulsive interparticle potential on the order of 1/r(20). Analysis
of powder pattern scattering profiles from samples in the crystallize
d region of the equilibrium phase diagram indicates crystallites made
up of a registered random stacking of hexagonal close packed planes, s
imilar to that found in monodisperse suspensions of hard spheres. With
the application of oscillatory shear, nonequilibrium microstructures
similar to those found in model hard sphere systems have been observed
in these suspensions. (C) 1996 Academic Press, Inc.