Investigating the Plasticity of a Colloidal Polycrystal at the Laboratoire Charles Coulomb, CNRS/University of Montpellier 2

At the University of Montpellier 2, the Colloidal Metallurgy Team, part of the Soft Condensed Matter Group of the Laboratoire Charles Coulomb and led by Principle Investigator: Laurence Ramos, CNRS scientist, is designing a colloidal polycrystal system (using polymers and colloids) to get a model for molecular or atomic polycrystals that will permit a better understanding of the mechanical and plastic properties of polycrystals. The aim of the team is to relate the macroscopic mechanical properties to the microscopic texture of the polycrystal, thanks to a combination of advanced experimental techniques, including light and neutron scattering, optical microscopy, rheology, which allow one to probe the matter at different scales (from nanometer and micrometer to macroscopic length scales).