Training and memory in a randomly driven fractal gel

A variety of disordered materials, including jammed particulate systems and crumpled paper, can be trained to exhibit memory of a cyclic strain amplitude. Only recently, however, have questions emerged around the whether random driving can impart similar training. Here, we employ x-ray photon correlation spectroscopy to study a fractal nanoparticle gel trained via either deterministic cyclic shear or random shear bounded by strain amplitudes $-{\gamma }_t$ and $+{\gamma }_t$. Both types of training lead to microstructural reversibility, with a slower and more irregular training for the random protocol. In both cases, the shear induces redistribution of internal stress in the gel with corresponding irreversible strain displacements whose magnitudes decrease during training. Finally, we show that memory of the random driving can be read out and quantified using a standard protocol.