2015/07/22 by Gary B. Davies, Davies, Gary B., Lorenzo Botto +1
Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #Soft Condensed Matter (cond-mat.soft) #cond-mat.soft
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1507.06229
7 pages, 7 figures
arxiv created 2015/07/22 · arxiv updated 2015/07/23
Capillary interactions have emerged as a tool for the directed assembly of particles adsorbed at fluid-fluid interfaces, and play a role in controlling the mechanical properties of emulsions and foams. In this paper, following Davies et al. [Advanced Materials, 26, 6715 (2014)] investigation into the assembly of ellipsoidal particles at interfaces interacting via dipolar capillary interactions, we numerically investigate the interaction between tilted ellipsoidal particles adsorbed at a fluid-fluid interface as their aspect ratio, tilt angle, bond angle, and separation vary. High-resolution Surface Evolver simulations of ellipsoidal particle pairs in contact reveal an energy barrier between a metastable tip-tip configuration and a stable side-side configuration. The side-side configuration is the global energy minimum for all parameters we investigated. Lattice Boltzmann simulations of clusters of up to 12 ellipsoidal particles show novel highly symmetric flower-like and ring-like arrangements.