  Using Brownian dynamics simulations we study gel-forming colloid-polymer
mixtures. The focus of this article lies on the differences of dense and dilute
gel networks in terms of structure formation both on a local and a global
level. We apply reduction algorithms and observe that dilute networks and dense
gels differ in the way structural properties like the thickness of strands
emerge. We also analyze the percolation behavior and find that two different
regimes of percolation exist which might be responsible for structural
differences. In dilute networks we confirm that solidity is mainly a
consequence of pentagonal bipyramids forming in the network. In dense gels also
tetrahedral structures influence solidity.
