Schröder-Turk G, Mickel W, Schröter M, Delaney G, Saadatfar M, Senden T, Mecke K, Aste T (2010)
Publication Language: English
Publication Type: Journal article
Publication year: 2010
Publisher: Institute of Physics: EPL
Book Volume: 90
Pages Range: 34001
Journal Issue: 3
DOI: 10.1209/0295-5075/90/34001
Investigating how tightly objects pack space is a long-standing problem, with relevance for many disciplines from discrete mathematics to the theory of glasses. Here we report on the fundamental yet so far overlooked geometric property that disordered mono-disperse spherical bead packs have significant local structural anisotropy manifest in the shape of the free space associated with each bead. Jammed disordered packings from several types of experiments and simulations reveal very similar values of the cell anisotropy, showing a linear decrease with packing fraction. Strong deviations from this trend are observed for unjammed configurations and for partially crystalline packings above 64%. These findings suggest an inherent geometrical reason why, in disordered packings, anisotropic shapes can fill space more efficiently than spheres, and have implications for packing effects in non-spherical liquid crystals, foams and structural glasses.
APA:
Schröder-Turk, G., Mickel, W., Schröter, M., Delaney, G., Saadatfar, M., Senden, T.,... Aste, T. (2010). Disordered spherical bead packs are anisotropic. EPL - Europhysics Letters, 90(3), 34001. https://doi.org/10.1209/0295-5075/90/34001
MLA:
Schröder-Turk, Gerd, et al. "Disordered spherical bead packs are anisotropic." EPL - Europhysics Letters 90.3 (2010): 34001.
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