Paper Number
GN15                         My Program 

Session
Self-assemblies, Gels and Networks

Title
Rheology and structure of multi-component attractive colloidal gels

Presentation Date and Time
October 20, 2025 (Monday) 4:45

Track / Room
Track 2 / Sweeney Ballroom B

Authors (Click on name to view author profile)

1. Kaltashov, Alexander I. (Northeastern University, Chemical Engineering)
2. Jamali, Safa (Northeastern University, Mechanical and Industrial Engineering)

Author and Affiliation Lines (in printed abstract book)
Alexander I. Kaltashov¹ and Safa Jamali^2
1Chemical Engineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115; ²Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115

Speaker / Presenter 
Kaltashov, Alexander I.

Keywords
colloids; gels; networks; non-Newtonian fluids; selft-assemblies

Text of Abstract

To date, most rheological studies of colloidal gels have largely focused on model systems based on a single component, largely due to the complex rheological behavior of even the simplest of colloidal gels. Yet, many real-world systems of interest consist of multiple components, whose structural peculiarities often give rise to non-intuitive mechanical behavior. The study of multi-component systems is not only relevant to the understanding of existing complex systems, but can also inform the design of new materials whose mechanical and rheological properties can be tuned through the manipulation of different particle populations.

In this work, we study the rheological and mechanical properties of two-component colloidal gels whose inter-species and intra-species electrostatic attractions can be independently manipulated. Using mesoscale simulation techniques, we analyze the shear response of such gels. We observe that by simply tuning interparticle interactions and leveraging temporal controls via sequential gelation, we can construct a wide assortment of colloidal network structures that give rise to diverse and intriguing rheological properties.