Fluctuations in chemical gelation.
We study a chemical gelation model in two dimensions which includes both monomer aggregations and bond fluctuations. Our numerical simulation shows that a sol-gel transition occurs when an initial monomer concentration is above a critical concentration. Fractal aggregates grow until the sol-gel transition occurs. After the gelation, however, bond fluctuations break the fractal structure and an interesting inhomogeneous gel fiber network appears instead. A pore size distribution of the inhomogeneous structure shows the existence of hierarchical structures in the gel phase. It is also found that slow dynamics appear near the critical concentration.
Ohira
Kenji
K
The Institute for Solid State Physics, the University of Tokyo, 5-1-5 Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa, Chiba 277-8581, Japan.
Sato
Masatoshi
M
Kohmoto
Mahito
M