Cooking crystalline candies and the ductile to brittle transition in concentrated suspensions
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Preprint |
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2026
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| _version_ | 1866917468972253184 |
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| author | Silva, Andreia F. Richards, James A. Jeffrey, Fiona O'Neill, Rory E. Hodgson, Daniel J. M. Ness, Christopher Poon, Wilson C. K. |
| author_facet | Silva, Andreia F. Richards, James A. Jeffrey, Fiona O'Neill, Rory E. Hodgson, Daniel J. M. Ness, Christopher Poon, Wilson C. K. |
| contents | The existence and origin of the ductile to brittle transition in non-Brownian suspensions and pastes is underexplored despite the ubiquity of such materials in practical applications. We demonstrate the phenomenon in candies of sugar crystals in a water-protein-fat matrix prepared by boiling a sugar-cream-butter mixture (known as 'fudge' in some countries). As cooking time or final cooking temperature increases, we observe a transition from a fluid to a ductile solid, then to a brittle solid that abruptly fractures in compression. We propose that this is driven by rising solid sugar crystal volume fraction, and indeed find the same sequence of behaviour in a suspension of non-Brownian calcite particles as the solid fraction moves from frictional jamming to random close packing. Particle-based simulations reveal the sensitivity of the observed phenomenon to boundary conditions. |
| format | Preprint |
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arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2605_06513 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Cooking crystalline candies and the ductile to brittle transition in concentrated suspensions Silva, Andreia F. Richards, James A. Jeffrey, Fiona O'Neill, Rory E. Hodgson, Daniel J. M. Ness, Christopher Poon, Wilson C. K. Soft Condensed Matter The existence and origin of the ductile to brittle transition in non-Brownian suspensions and pastes is underexplored despite the ubiquity of such materials in practical applications. We demonstrate the phenomenon in candies of sugar crystals in a water-protein-fat matrix prepared by boiling a sugar-cream-butter mixture (known as 'fudge' in some countries). As cooking time or final cooking temperature increases, we observe a transition from a fluid to a ductile solid, then to a brittle solid that abruptly fractures in compression. We propose that this is driven by rising solid sugar crystal volume fraction, and indeed find the same sequence of behaviour in a suspension of non-Brownian calcite particles as the solid fraction moves from frictional jamming to random close packing. Particle-based simulations reveal the sensitivity of the observed phenomenon to boundary conditions. |
| title | Cooking crystalline candies and the ductile to brittle transition in concentrated suspensions |
| topic | Soft Condensed Matter |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.06513 |