Apparent Fracture in Polymeric Fluids under Step Shear
Fluid Dynamics
2015-06-04 v3 Soft Condensed Matter
Abstract
Recent step strain experiments in well-entangled polymeric liquids demonstrated a bulk fracture-like phenomenon. We have studied this instability using a modern version of the Doi-Edwards theory for entangled polymers, and we find close quantitative agreement with the experiments. The phenomenon occurs because the viscoelastic liquid is sheared into a rubbery state that possesses an elastic constitutive instability (Marrucci and Grizzuti, 1983). The fracture is a transient manifestation of this instability, which relies on the amplification of spatially inhomogeneous fluctuations. This mechanism differs from fracture in glassy materials and dense suspensions.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1204.4169,
title = {Apparent Fracture in Polymeric Fluids under Step Shear},
author = {Okpeafoh S. Agimelen and Peter D. Olmsted},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1204.4169},
year = {2015}
}
Comments
5 pages,3 figures. Accepted in the Physical Review Letters