2003 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Dynamical entropy control and macroscopic phase separation in strongly
| Project/Area Number |
13031010
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Priority Areas
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Review Section |
Science and Engineering
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| Research Institution | The University of Tokyo |
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Principal Investigator |
TANAKA Hajime Institute of Industrial Science, Professor, 生産技術研究所, 教授 (60159019)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
ARAKI Takeaki Institute of Industrial Science, Research Associate, 生産技術研究所, 助手 (20332596)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2001 – 2003
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| Keywords | strongly correlated soft materials / dynamic entropy control / macroscopic phase separation / viscoelastic phase separation / polymer solution / colloidal dispersion / liquid crystal microemulsion / phase coherent light scattering |
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| Research Abstract |
Various types of self-organizing structures having multi length scales are formed in soft materials, Since the energy scale stabilizing the higher-order structures is comparable to the thermal energy. the structures can be easily controlled by weak perturbations.
In this study, we have aimed to clarify and control the dynamic physical properties of soft condensed matter. Major achievements of this study are follows.
(1) We have constructed the dynamic phase diagram of viscoelastic phase separation in polymer solutions by using the characteristics of the domain morphology. We have found that the dynamic phase diagramis can be scaled into the universal one. (2) We have found that viscoelastic phase separation is observed in colloidal dispersions, despite that the components do not have any internal degrees of freedom. This suggests the universality of viscoelastic phase separation in dynamically asymmetric mixtures. (3) Hydrodynamic interactions between the aggregating colloidal particles are turned out to play crucial roles in the formation of network structure. (4) A tansparent liquid crystal phase has been discovered in liquid-crystal microemulsions. (5) Novel phenomenon of spontaneous partitioning of particles into cellar structures in membrane systems has been found. (6) We have succeeded in mode-selective measurements of the fluctuations in soft matters by the phase-coherent light scattering method. (7) We have successfully controlled higher order structures of membrane systems dynamically by the external fields, such as shear flow and spatial confinement. (8) Defect structures in membrane systems have successfully been controlled by the laser manipulating method.
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