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Soft-granular media such as dense emulsions, foams or tissues tend to exhibiteither fluid- or solid-like properties depending on the applied stresses.However, the internal dynamics of soft granular systems bound by closedinterfaces is poorly understood, while it remains of significant interest indiverse fields ranging from material science (porous materials) and tissueengineering (granular bioinks) to developmental biology (embryos, organoids)and medicine (circulating tumor cell clusters). Here, we report the spontaneousoccurrence of crystalline-like hexagonal structures within soft granularclusters which self-organize under external flow. We use a densely packeddouble emulsion as a model soft granular material to produce clusters of sizesof 20-40 grains (droplets). We find that, optimally, the crystallites emergeunder weak flows, when the internal shear stresses slightly agitate the systemallowing internal rearrangements. Excessive flows destroy the delicatecrystalline structure and lead to constant internal recirculations, i.e.,effective fluidization of the granular medium. Upon subjecting the clusters tocycles of constriction and relaxation/expansion, we also find differencesbetween the behaviours of two groups of droplets: those within the inner partof the cluster and those at its rim, with the latter subjected to largerdeformations and less frequent rearrangements, effectively acting as an elasticsolid-like membrane around the inner fluid-like core. This structural-dynamicalheterogeneity appears to be of purely topological origin and as such we expectit to remain universal in various types of soft granular clusters or jetsincluding also cell aggregates, organoids or bioprinted tissues.

Crystallization and topology-induced dynamical heterogeneities in soft granular clusters