Abstract

Frictionless monodisperse soft particles such as bubbles and drops have been observed to self assemble into either fcc or bcc packings, depending on packing fraction. I will present Surface Evolver simulations showing that when such particles have adhesive interactions, new ordered packing structures become stable, giving rise to a phase diagram depending, in addition to packing fraction, on the interfacial contact angle which is a measure of adhesion strength. This diagram features stable simple cubic assemblies as well as the “spider web” fcc structure illustrated below. I will discuss how this phase diagram can be explored experimentally, how the new ordered structures can be obtained by self assembly, and why solidification of the new structures can yield mechanical metamaterials with useful properties.