When gel and glass meet: A mechanism for multistep relaxation

TL;DR

This paper uses computer simulations to explore the complex relaxation dynamics in dense gels where gelation and glass transition effects overlap, revealing multi-step decay patterns, logarithmic relaxations, and subdiffusive behavior.

Contribution

It provides detailed physical insights into the multi-step relaxation processes in dense gels near the intersection of gelation and glass transition phenomena.

Findings

Identification of three-step decay in time correlation functions

Observation of logarithmic decay in certain parameter regimes

Detection of subdiffusive particle motion

Abstract

We use computer simulations to study the dynamics of a physical gel at high densities where gelation and the glass transition interfere. We report and provide detailed physical understanding of complex relaxation patterns for time correlation functions which generically decay in a three-step process. For certain combinations of parameters we find logarithmic decays of the correlators and subdiffusive particle motion.