Eur. Phys. J. B 7, 277-281 (1999)
https://doi.org/10.1007/s100510050614

From colloidal aggregation to spinodal decomposition in sticky emulsions

¹ Centre de Recherche Paul Pascal/CNRS, avenue A. Schweitzer, Pessac 33600, France
² Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia PA 19104, USA

Received: 7 April 1998
Revised: 19 August 1998
Accepted: 21 August 1998
Published online: 15 January 1999

Abstract

Aggregation mechanisms of emulsions at high initial volume fractions () is studied using light scattering. We use emulsion droplets which can be made unstable towards aggregation by a temperature quench. For deep quenches and , the aggregation mechanism is identified as diffusion-limited cluster aggregation (DLCA). An ordering of the clusters, which is reflected by a peak in the scattering intensity, is shown to result from the intercluster separation, exhibiting different scaling than that observed at lower volume fractions. This manifests an increasing similarity to spinodal decomposition observed as is increased. For and shallow quenches, different mechanisms, closer to spinodal decomposition, are observed. These results allow the subtle boundaries between DLCA and spinodal decomposition to be explored.