Adventures in phase space: Unified map on plastic and elastic glasses

A research team has simulated glassy colloidal solids to understand their mechanical and failure properties. Under strain, the hard-sphere glasses deformed elastically (reversibly), partly plastically (irreversibly), or underwent yielding or jamming. The size of the elastic and plastic zones on the phase diagram, and the nature of failure, depended on how deeply the glasses were annealed. A unified framework for amorphous solid rheology will have applications across technology and biology.

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