Power law rheology is of widespread occurrence in complex materials that are characterized by the presence of a very broad range of microstructural length and time scales. Although phenomenological models able to reproduce the observed rheological features exist, in general a well-established connection with the microscopic origin of this mechanical behavior is still missing. As a model system, this work focuses on a fractal colloidal gel. We thoroughly characterize the linear power law rheology of the sample and its age dependence. We show that at all sample ages and for a variety of rheological tests the gel linear viscoelasticity is very accurately described by a Fractional Maxwell (FM) model, characterized by a power law behavior. Thanks to a unique set-up that couples small-angle static and dynamic light scattering to rheological measurements, we demonstrate that the power law rheology observed in the linear regime originates from reversible non-affine rearrangements and discuss the possible relationship between the FM model and the microscopic structure of the gel.

Despite an abundant literature on epoxy-amine systems, a complete description of the curing kinetics in epoxy-phenol composites was still lacking. In this study, the curing kinetics of an epoxy-phenol composite relevant to microelectronics industry is probed by isothermal and non-isothermal differential scanning calorimetry. An isoconversional analysis of the data reveals a significant contribution of the diffusion of molecular species to the activation energy, at low temperature and high degrees of curing. A model-fitting of the kinetics is performed in two successive steps: high-temperatures data are fitted with Arrhenius law and nth order autocatalytic model (where the diffusion contribution is neglected), whereas low-temperature data are fitted using Rabinowitch and modified-Williams-Landel-Ferry models (considering a diffusion contribution related to the glass transition). The chemical and diffusion contributions to the rate constants are calculated at various temperatures, clarifying the kinetics regimes with precision. Finally, the kinetics regimes are summarized in an improved time-temperature-transformation diagram.

Contact-resonance atomic force microscopy (CR-AFM) is of great interest and very valuable for a deeper understanding of the mechanics of biological materials with moduli of at least a few GPa. However, sample surfaces can present a high topography range with significant slopes, where the local angle can be as large as ± 50°. The non-trivial correlation between surface slope and CR-frequency hinders a straightforward interpretation of CR-AFM indentation modulus measurements on such samples. We aim to demonstrate the significant influence of the surface slope on the CR-frequency that is caused by the local angle between sample surface and the AFM cantilever and present a practical method to correct the measurements. Based on existing analytical models of the effect of the AFM set-up's intrinsic cantilever tilt on CR-frequencies, we compute the non-linear variation of the first two (eigen)modes CR-frequency for a large range of surface angles. The computations are confirmed by CR-AFM experiments performed on a curved surface. Finally, the model is applied to directly correct contact modulus measurements on a durum wheat starch granule as an exemplary sample.

Recent experimental results using in particular small-angle scattering to characterize the self-assembly of mainly hard spherical nanoparticles into higher ordered structures ranging from fractal aggregates to ordered assemblies are reviewed. The crucial control of interparticle interactions is discussed, from chemical surface-modification, or the action of additives like depletion agents, to the generation of directional patches and the use of external fields. It is shown how the properties of interparticle interactions have been used to allow inducing and possibly controlling aggregation, opening the road to the generation of colloidal molecules or potentially metamaterials. In the last part, studies of the microstructure of polymer nanocomposites as an application of volume-spanning and stress-carrying aggregates are discussed.

Non-aqueous Taylor dispersion analysis (TDA) was used for the size-characterization of natural and synthetic polyisoprenes (4 × 103–2 × 106 g/mol molar mass). Not only the weight-average hydrodynamic radius (Rh), but also the probability distribution of the hydrodynamic radius, were both derived from the Taylorgrams by a simple integration of the elution profile and by a more sophisticated constrained regularized linear inversion of the Taylorgram, respectively. Results in terms of size characterization (hydrodynamic radii between 2 and 100 nm) were compared to size exclusion chromatography coupled to a refractive index-based mass detector. Multimodal size distributions were resolved by TDA for industrial and natural polyisoprenes, with the advantage over the chromatographic technique that, in TDA, there is no abnormal elution of microaggregates (hydrodynamic radii ∼ 40–50 nm). Considering the importance and the difficulty of characterizing polyisoprene microaggregates, TDA appears as a promising and simple technique for the characterization of synthetic and natural rubber.

Gliadins are edible wheat storage proteins well known for their surface active properties. In this paper, we present experimental results on the interfacial properties of acidic solutions of gliadin studied over 5 decades of concentrations, from 0.001 to 110 g/L. Dynamic pendant drop tensiometry reveals that the surface pressure  of gliadin solutions builds up in a multistep process. The series of curves of the time evolution of collected at different bulk protein concentrations C can be merged onto a single master curve when  is plotted as a function of t where t is the time elapsed since the formation of the air/water interface and  is a shift parameter that varies with C as a power law with an exponent 2. The existence of such time-concentration superposition, which we evidence for the first time, indicates that the same mechanisms govern the surface tension evolution at all concentrations and are accelerated by an increase of the bulk concentration. The scaling of  with C is consistent with a kinetic of adsorption controlled by the diffusion of the proteins in the bulk. Moreover, we show that the proteins adsorption at the air/water interface is kinetically irreversible. Correlated evolutions of the optical and elastic properties of the interfaces, as probed by ellipsometry and surface dilatational rheology respectively, provide a consistent physical picture of the building up of the protein interfacial layer. A progressive coverage of the interface by the proteins occurs at low . This stage is followed, at higher , by conformational rearrangements of the protein film, which are identified by a strong increase of the dissipative viscoelastic properties of the film concomitantly with a peculiar evolution of its optical profile that we have rationalized. In the last stage, at even higher surface pressure, the adsorption is arrested; the optical profile is not modified while the elasticity of the interfacial layer dramatically increases with the surface pressure, presumably due to the film ageing.