title: Elasticity of a polydisperse hard-sphere crystal.
abstract: A general Monte Carlo simulation method of calculating the elastic constants of a polydisperse hard-sphere colloidal crystal is developed. Elastic constants of a size-polydisperse hard-sphere fcc crystal are calculated. The pressure and three elastic constants ( C11, C12, and C44 ) increase significantly with the polydispersity. It was also found from extrapolation that there is a mechanical terminal polydispersity above which a fcc crystal will be mechanically unstable.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Theoretical Physics, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Mingcheng
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Hongru
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ma