Hindered cracking in colloidal suspension coatings via evaporation‐driven lyotropic liquid crystals
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: We demonstrate that lyotropic liquid crystalline (LC) phases, formed by the molecular interactions between 1‐glyceryl monooleyl ether (GME) and water, offer new pathways for producing crack‐free particulate films from colloidal suspensions. Drying experiments on titanium dioxide‐ethanol‐water‐GME suspension systems revealed a 15‐fold increase in the critical cracking thickness, above which cracks spontaneously evolve, compared to suspensions without additives. Contrary to previous theoretical predictions based on capillary forces, the critical thicknesses ethanol‐lean suspensions increased with higher particle packing volume fractions in the dried films. We developed a new phenomenological model that incorporates the formation of viscoelastic LC phases and found it to be in quantitative agreement with measurements. This suggests a versatile route for delaying cracking by introducing thermodynamically metastable phases of amphiphilic molecules. The evaporation‐induced isotropic‐LC transition was further verified by numerical predictions of the compositional trajectories on the phase diagram.
Source: AIChE Journal
DOI: 10.1002/aic.18837
Author: Masato Yamamura
Institution: Kyushu Institute of Technology
Language: English
Subfield: Computational Mechanics
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $4,940
OpenAlex ID: W4408968109