Authors Referees APS Members |
January 2008, to be published in Physical Review E
Arrested state of clay-water suspensions: Gel or glass?
The aging of a charged colloidal system has been studied by Small Angle X-rays Scattering, in the exchanged momentum range $Q$=0.03 $\div$ 5 nm$^{-1}$, and by Dynamic Light Scattering, at different clay concentrations ($C_w=$0.6 \% $\div$ 2.8 \%). The static structure factor, $S(Q)$, has been determined as a function of both aging time and concentration. This is the first direct experimental evidence of the existence and evolution with aging time of two different arrested states in a single system simply obtained only by changing its volume fraction: an inhomogeneous state is reached at low concentrations, while a homogenous one is found at high concentrations. © 2008 The American Physical Society.
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