Mesoscale Simulation Approach for Assembly of Small Deformable Objects

TL;DR

This paper introduces a vertex model-based simulation approach to study the self-assembly and phase transitions of small deformable soft particles, revealing insights into ordered structure formation and metastability.

Contribution

It adapts vertex models with Monte Carlo sampling to explore the physical mechanisms behind ordered structure formation in soft particles, including phase transitions and metastable states.

Findings

Transitions between ordered and disordered states observed.

Rapid quenches lead to metastable local arrangements.

Simulation constraints influence structural transformation pathways.

Abstract

We adapt Vertex models to understand the physical origin of the formation of long-range ordered structures in repulsive soft particles. The model incorporates contributions from the volume and surface area of each particle. Sampling using Monte Carlo simulations allows the system to naturally select preferred structures. We observe transitions between a body-centered cubic ordered state and a disordered state. Constraints to the simulation domain can suppress or allow the system to follow a path similar to Martensitic transformations from one ordered state to another ordered state. Finally, we show that rapid quenches from a disordered state into the ordered region lead to metastable local particle arrangements instead of a large-scale single crystal.