Kinetics of Crystallization and Gelation in Colloidal Suspensions
Dixit, Narendra Madhukar
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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/82339
Description
Title
Kinetics of Crystallization and Gelation in Colloidal Suspensions
Author(s)
Dixit, Narendra Madhukar
Issue Date
2002
Doctoral Committee Chair(s)
Zukoski, Charles F.
Department of Study
Chemical Engineering
Discipline
Chemical Engineering
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
Engineering, Chemical
Language
eng
Abstract
The competition between crystallization and gelation in colloidal suspensions is addressed as arising from three underlying processes at the particle level, viz., aggregation, dissociation, and rearrangement. Particles aggregate via Brownian encounters into clusters that have open structures. Subsequently, these particles rearrange into crystalline configurations to minimize their free energies. Simultaneously, bound particles can dissociate due to thermal motion. When particle rearrangement is rapid compared to the net rate of particle aggregation, crystalline clusters result. When rearrangement is slower, amorphous aggregates leading to gels result. With knowledge of particle aggregation, dissociation, and rearrangement processes, regions on colloidal phase diagrams where crystals occur are delineated from regions where gels result. Comparisons with recent experiments on globular protein suspensions are in excellent agreement suggesting that the model captures the underlying physics of the competition between gelation and crystallization. By establishing links between tunable interaction parameters and the resulting gelation and crystallization transitions, the present approach provides design rules for the control of colloidal phase transitions.
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