A computational approach to materials science and engineering could bring new properties even to familiar substances such as concrete and steel. See the MIT News Office to learn more about computational work being done in DMSE.

Working with Prof. W. Craig Carter, Neri Oxman is designing art and architecture that draws from the way nature works. Based on natural materials as diverse as bone and butterfly wings, her objects combine strength and flexibility. Learn more from the MIT News Office.

The DMSE Community is invited to the first Lunch N Lecture* of the Spring semester with Professor Craig Carter. Pizza and refreshments will be served!

Kinetics of Micelle Formation Below the Critical Micelle Concentration
Speaker: Craig Carter
Professor of Materials Science and Engineering
Date: Tuesday, February 24th
Time: 12:00pm-1:00pm (pizza and refreshments will be served at 11:40am)
Location: The Chipman Room (6-104)

Abstract:
At amphiphilic surfactant concentrations above the critical micelle concentration (CMC), the stable micelle morphology has been predicted and is observed as a function of concentration and intrinsic micelle curvature. The kinetics of evolution from micelle nucleation to the stable morphology is much more complicated.

A phase field method to simulate morphological transitions of interfaces in soft materials such as surfactant self-assembled structures is developed and simulations are presented. The model captures both self-assembly of micelles and the effect of interface-curvature elastic-energy on their morphologies. Simulations of single micelle growth in dilute solutions reveal several previously unknown morphological transitions, including a disk-to-cylinder transition and a tip-splitting instability of cylindrical micelles. We propose that these morphological instabilities provide for the branched micelle structures, which have been observed and have significant effects on the rheological properties of solutions.

(This work has been done in collaboration with Ming Tang, LLNL)

*The MRS “Lunch N Lecture” is a series of informal talks from any faculty member whose research interests are in materials. To learn more about the MRS and its lecture series, please visit the chapter homepage. Want to see a particular faculty member give a talk? E-mail the MRS officers at mrschapter.officers [at] mit.edu and give us suggestions!