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Tailoring the flow of soft glasses by soft additives

E. Zaccarelli, C. Mayer, A. Asteriadi, C. N. Likos, F. Sciortino, J. Roovers, H. Iatrou, N. Hadjichristidis, P. Tartaglia, H. Löwen, D. Vlassopoulos

cond-mat.softarXiv:cond-mat/0511355

Abstract

We examine the vitrification and melting of asymmetric star polymers mixtures by combining rheological measurements with mode coupling theory. We identify two types of glassy states, a single glass, in which the small component is fluid in the glassy matrix of the big one and a double glass, in which both components are vitrified. Addition of small star polymers leads to melting of both glasses and the melting curve has a non-monotonic dependence on the star-star size ratio. The phenomenon opens new ways for externally steering the rheological behavior of soft matter systems.

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