Early sedimentation and crossover kinetics in an off-critical phase-separating liquid mixture

TL;DR

This study investigates early sedimentation and phase-separation kinetics in an off-critical liquid mixture, revealing a crossover from free growth to coarsening consistent with theoretical models.

Contribution

It provides experimental evidence of crossover kinetics in off-critical phase separation, linking sedimentation behavior to theoretical predictions.

Findings

Observed crossover time matches theoretical predictions

Sedimentation behavior characteristic of emulsion coalescence

Phase-separating kinetics characterized by gravitational collisions

Abstract

Early sedimentation in a liquid mixture off-critically quenched in its miscibility gap was investigated with a light attenuation technique. The time evolution of the droplets distribution is characteristic of an emulsion coalescing by gravitational collisions. This sedimentation behaviour has given access to the phase-separating kinetics and a crossover on the way toward equilibrium was observed, which separates free growth from conserved order-parameter coarsening with a crossover time fitting well to theoretical predictions.