Nucleation by sedimentation of colloidal particles on a flat surface is experimentally observed, and effect of attractive depletion force generated by polymers on nucleation is investigated. Sedimentation forms polycrystalline colloidal crystal on a flat surface, and above the threshold polymer concentration, ratio of the spontaneous nucleation increases, resulting in a decrease in the grain size, whereas dependence of the contact angle on the polymer concentration was not observed. We show that the interaction between particles and the flat surface mainly affects the spontaneous nucleation, not the interaction between the particles, and it is demonstrated that the nucleation process can be numerically reproduced using the rate equations.

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A ballpoint-pen-type portable ultrasonic oscillator is developed for quantitative measurement of Young's modulus on a solid. It consists of an electrodeless rod-shaped langasite oscillator with a tungsten-carbide spherical-shaped tip at the end, permanent magnets for making a constant force at the contact interface, and antennas for exciting and detecting the longitudinal vibration contactlessly. The resonance frequency of the oscillator is changed by contact with the specimen, reflecting Young's modulus of the specimen at the contact area. The langasite oscillator is supported at the nodal points so that its acoustical contact occurs only at the specimen, making a calibration-free measurement realistic. Young's moduli of various specimens were evaluated within 15% error just by touching the specimens with the probe. The error becomes smaller than 10% for lower Young-modulus materials (~150 GPa).

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