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Main Authors: Mukherjee, Ranit, Chen, Zih-Yin, Cheng, Xiang, Lee, Sungyon
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.11315
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author Mukherjee, Ranit
Chen, Zih-Yin
Cheng, Xiang
Lee, Sungyon
author_facet Mukherjee, Ranit
Chen, Zih-Yin
Cheng, Xiang
Lee, Sungyon
contents Fluid-fluid interfaces laden with discrete particles behave curiously like continuous elastic sheets, leading to their applications in emulsion and foam stabilization. Although existing continuum models can qualitatively capture the elastic buckling of these particle-laden interfaces -- often referred to as particle rafts -- under compression, they fail to link their macroscopic collective properties to the microscopic behaviors of individual particles. Thus, phenomena such as particle expulsion from the compressed rafts remain unexplained. Here, by combining systematic experiments with first-principle modeling, we reveal how the macroscopic mechanical properties of particle rafts emerge from particle-scale interactions. We construct a phase diagram that delineates the conditions under which a particle raft collapses via collective folding versus single-particle expulsion. Guided by this theoretical framework, we demonstrate control over the raft's failure mode by tuning the physicochemical properties of individual particles. Our study highlights the previously overlooked dual nature of particle rafts and exemplifies how collective dynamics can arise from discrete components with simple interactions.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2502_11315
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Microscopic contact line dynamics dictate the emergent behaviors of particle rafts
Mukherjee, Ranit
Chen, Zih-Yin
Cheng, Xiang
Lee, Sungyon
Soft Condensed Matter
Fluid-fluid interfaces laden with discrete particles behave curiously like continuous elastic sheets, leading to their applications in emulsion and foam stabilization. Although existing continuum models can qualitatively capture the elastic buckling of these particle-laden interfaces -- often referred to as particle rafts -- under compression, they fail to link their macroscopic collective properties to the microscopic behaviors of individual particles. Thus, phenomena such as particle expulsion from the compressed rafts remain unexplained. Here, by combining systematic experiments with first-principle modeling, we reveal how the macroscopic mechanical properties of particle rafts emerge from particle-scale interactions. We construct a phase diagram that delineates the conditions under which a particle raft collapses via collective folding versus single-particle expulsion. Guided by this theoretical framework, we demonstrate control over the raft's failure mode by tuning the physicochemical properties of individual particles. Our study highlights the previously overlooked dual nature of particle rafts and exemplifies how collective dynamics can arise from discrete components with simple interactions.
title Microscopic contact line dynamics dictate the emergent behaviors of particle rafts
topic Soft Condensed Matter
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.11315