finding bridges in packings of colloidal spheres

• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.1006.3405
• Publication Date: 2011-01-01
• Authors: Matthew C. Jenkins; Matthew C. Jenkins; Stefan U. Egelhaaf; Stefan U. Egelhaaf; Mark Haw; Mark Haw; Wilson C. K. Poon; Gary C. Barker
• Keywords: Science (General); Solid state physics. Nanoscience; Physical and theoretical chemistry; FOS: Physical sciences; Geology; Condensed Matter - Soft Condensed Matter; Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General); 540; Q1; 530; 01 natural sciences; QD450; Chemical engineering; TA; 0103 physical sciences; QC176; QE; Soft Condensed Matter (cond-mat.soft); TP155

18 pages, 9 figures<br/>We identify putative load-bearing structures (bridges) in experimental colloidal systems studied by confocal microscopy. Bridges are co-operative structures that have been used to explain stability and inhomogeneous force transmission in simulated granular packings with a range of densities. We show that bridges similar to those found in granular simulations are present in real experimental colloidal packings. We describe critically the bridge-finding procedure for real experimental data and propose a new criterion-Lowest Mean Squared Separation (LSQS)-for selecting optimum stabilisations.<br/>