EPJ E Colloquium - Laboratory models to understand and control the drying of colloidal systems

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Published on 22 August 2018

The drying of complex solutions, such as colloidal dispersions, is a phenomenon of great interest, both scientific and technical, ranging from functional coatings, food science, cosmetology, medical diagnostics and forensics to geophysics and art. This EPJ E Colloquium discusses a wide variety of problems related to the drying of colloidal systems, from the stabilization of dairy products to cracking phenomena that occur at the surface of planets or on an oil painting. The diversity of these processes lies in the great variability in size and/or time scales and makes it very hard to understand and analyse the mechanisms at play. The results presented in this review attest to the reliability of experimental modelling in the laboratory, a clever way to use the drying of complex fluids to reproduce and study original mechanisms.

The success of this experimental modelling is based on the ability to tune the forces between the components and the diversity of physical properties emerging during the drying process. One common element to all these approaches is the description of the behaviour of out-of-equilibrium systems through physico-chemical surface interactions or, mechanically, through deformation. The success of this experimental modelling is based on the ability to tune the forces between the components and the diversity of physical properties emerging during the drying process. The number and nature of components involved make the analogue approach a very powerful method.