title: Self-assembly of particles for densest packing by mechanical vibration.
abstract: It is shown that by properly controlling vibrational and charging conditions, the transition from disordered to ordered, densest packing of particles can be obtained consistently. The method applies to both spherical and nonspherical particles. For spheres, face centered cubic packing with different orientations can be achieved by monitoring the vibration amplitude and frequency, and the structure of the bottom layer, in particular. The resultant force structures are ordered but do not necessarily correspond to the packing structures fully. The implications of the findings are also discussed.
authors.affiliation: Center for Simulation and Modeling of Particulate Systems, School of Materials Science and Engineering, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales 2052, Australia. a.yu@unsw.edu.au
authors.forename: A B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: X Z
authors.initials: XZ
authors.lastname: An
authors.forename: R P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Zou
authors.forename: R Y
authors.initials: RY
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kendall