DYNAMIC PERCOLATION OF SPHERES IN A CONTINUUM - THE CASE OF MICROEMULSIONS

Results obtained on electrical conductivity, dielectric relaxation (static permittivity and characteristic frequency), and dynamic viscosity are presented for microemulsions with very different components (water-based or waterless, ternary or quaternary). However, they do have in common the fact that they all correspond to the model of a distribution of spheres, subjected to Brownian motion, dispersed in a continuous medium. For all these systems the associated dynamic percolation model is qualitatively verified. Moreover when the conditions of application of the asymptotic laws of the theory are satisfied, the scale exponents are the same (approximately equal to 2 above the threshold and -1.2 below it) for all the systems, in agreement with the theoretical predictions. This reflects the fact that all these systems belong to the same class of universality.