title: Experimental signatures of a nonequilibrium phase transition governing the yielding of a soft glass.
abstract: We present direct experimental signatures of a nonequilibrium phase transition associated with the yield point of a prototypical soft solid-a binary colloidal glass. By simultaneously quantifying single-particle dynamics and bulk mechanical response, we identified the threshold for the onset of irreversibility with the yield strain. We extracted the relaxation time from the transient behavior of the loss modulus and found that it diverges in the vicinity of the yield strain. This critical slowing down is accompanied by a growing correlation length associated with the size of regions of high Debye-Waller factor, which are precursors to yield events in glasses. Our results affirm that the paradigm of nonequilibrium critical phenomena is instrumental in achieving a holistic understanding of yielding in soft solids.
authors.affiliation: Chemistry and Physics of Materials Unit, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Jakkur, Bangalore 560064, India.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hima Nagamanasa
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560012, India.
authors.forename: Shreyas
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gokhale
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560012, India and International Centre for Materials Science, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Jakkur, Bangalore 560064, India.
authors.forename: A K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Sood
authors.affiliation: International Centre for Materials Science, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Jakkur, Bangalore 560064, India.
authors.forename: Rajesh
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ganapathy
mesh_terms: D000180:Acrylic Resins / Q000737:chemistry; D003102:Colloids / Q000737:chemistry*; D005898:Glass / Q000737:chemistry*; D010507:Periodicity; D044367:Phase Transition; D012212:Rheology; D055682:Viscoelastic Substances / Q000737:chemistry; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D000180:Acrylic Resins; D003102:Colloids; D055682:Viscoelastic Substances; D014867:Water; C052970:poly-N-isopropylacrylamide