Plastic deformation of crystalline materials with isotropic particle attractions proceeds by the creation and migration of dislocations under the influence of external forces. If dislocations are produced and migrated under the action of local forces, then material shape change can occur without the application of surface forces. We investigate how particles with variable diameters can be embedded in colloidal monolayers to produce dislocations on demand. We find in simulation that when embedded clusters of variable diameter particles are taken through multiple cycles of swelling and shrinking, large cumulative plastic slip is produced by the creation and biased motion of dislocation pairs in the solid for embedded clusters of particular geometries. In this way, dislocations emitted by these clusters (biased "dislocation emitters") can be used to reshape colloidal matter. Our results are also applicable to larger-scale swarms of robotic particles that organize into dense ordered two-dimensional (2D) arrangements. We conclude with a discussion of how dislocations fulfill for colloids the role sought by "metamodules" in lattice robotics research and show how successive applications of shear as a unit operation can produce shape change through slicing and swirling.
Sculpting crystals one Burgers vector at a time: Toward colloidal lattice robot swarms
Creators
Bryan VanSaders - University of Michigan–Ann Arbor
Sharon C. Glotzer - University of Michigan–Ann Arbor
Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL (United States)
Publication Details
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS, v 118(3), 2017377118
Publisher
Natl Acad Sciences
Number of pages
10
Grant note
University of Michigan; University of Michigan System
ACI-1053575; 140129 / NSF (XSEDE Award)
DE-SC0000989 / Center for Bio-Inspired Energy Science, an Energy Frontier Research Center - US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences; United States Department of Energy (DOE)
Resource Type
Journal article
Language
English
Academic Unit
Physics
Web of Science ID
WOS:000609633900045
Scopus ID
2-s2.0-85099167489
Other Identifier
991021879787604721
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Web of Science research areas
Multidisciplinary Sciences
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