화학공학소재연구정보센터
Journal of Chemical Physics, Vol.110, No.11, 5318-5324, 1999
Optimal packing of polydisperse hard-sphere fluids
We consider the effect of intermolecular interactions on the optimal size-distribution of N hard spheres that occupy a fixed total volume. When we minimize the free-energy of this system, within the Percus-Yevick approximation, we find that no solution exists beyond a quite low threshold (eta approximate to 0.260). Monte Carlo simulations reveal that beyond this density, the size-distribution becomes bimodal. Such distributions cannot be reproduced within the Percus-Yevick approximation. We present a theoretical argument that supports the occurrence of a nonmonotonic size-distribution and emphasize the importance of finite size effects.