We present a study of crack patterns in a layer of laponite gel allowed to dry in a static electric field. Crack patterns in natural and synthetic clays have been studied extensively with interesting results. Since clay platelets have a surface charge in aqueous solution, it is natural to expect...

Experiments have been conducted to study crack patterns forming in drying films of laponite. The patterns have been analysed to observe the self-similarity of the structure, with respect to crack width. Ped-size distributions and other features are also studied. We coarse-grain the pattern,...