Related papers: Influence of Chain Interdiffusion Between Immiscib…
We study the friction of a poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) rubber network sliding, at low velocity, on a substrate on which PDMS chains are end-tethered. We thus clearly evidence the contribution to friction of the pull-out mechanism of…
The dewetting dynamics of ultrathin polymer films, e.g. in the model system of polystyrene on a polydimethylsiloxane-covered substrate, exhibits interesting behavior like a fast decay of the dewetting velocity and a maximum in the width of…
Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) is a glassy polymer widely used in biomedical engineering, namely in microfluidics applications. However, PDMS is known to interact with hydrophobic chemicals. This interaction is exacerbated at the scale of…
Heat exchangers are made of metals because of their high heat conductivity and mechanical stability. Metal surfaces are inherently hydrophilic, leading to inefficient filmwise condensation. It is still a challenge to coat these metal…
The process of ageing in rubbers requires monitoring over long periods (days to years). To do so in non-conducting rubbers, small amounts of carbon-black particles were dispersed in a fractal network through the rubber matrix, to make the…
The slip behavior of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) polymer melts flowing on non-adsorbing surfaces made of short non-entangled PDMS chains densely end-grafted to silica has been characterized. For high enough shear rates, constant slip…
Thermal welding of polymer-polymer interfaces is important for integrating polymeric elements into devices. When two different polymers are joined, the strength of the weld depends critically on the degree of immiscibility. We perform…
We revisit the fundamental problem of liquid-liquid dewetting and perform a detailed comparison of theoretical predictions based on thin-film models with experimental measurements obtained by atomic force microscopy (AFM). Specifically, we…
Nonequilibrium molecular dynamics simulations are used to study the shear thinning behavior of immiscible symmetric polymer blends. The phase separated polymers are subjected to a simple shear flow imposed by moving a wall parallel to the…
Molecular dynamics simulations of a short-chain polymer melt between two brush-covered surfaces under shear have been performed. The end-grafted polymers which constitute the brush have the same chemical properties as the free chains in the…
The advances in new technologies have prompted the need for functional systems smaller than the gyration radius of polymer chains. Thus, understanding how nanoconfinement affects polymer properties has been the focus of a lot of research…
Understanding interfacial heat transfer between polymers and water is crucial for the design of biomaterials, drug delivery platforms, and nanofluidic systems. In this study, we employed all atom molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to…
In many industrial processes, pieces of the same polymer material are brought into contact at a temperature above the glass transition. Interdiffusion then takes place across the interface and leads to a strengthening of the junction.…
Ultrathin polymer films that are produced e.g. by spin-coating are believed to be stressed since polymers are 'frozen in' into out-of-equilibrium configurations during this process. In the framework of a viscoelastic thin film model, we…
The local glass transition temperature Tg of pyrene-labeled polystyrene (PS) chains intermixed with end-tethered PS chains grafted to a neutral silica substrate was measured by fluorescence spectroscopy. To isolate the impact of the grafted…
We present an investigation of the effect of the interaction between a thin polystyrene film and its supporting substrate on its glass transition temperature (Tg). We modulate this interaction by depositing the film on end-tethered…
An experimental investigation is reported on the effect of shear on the bursting of molten ultra-thin polymer films embedded in an immiscible matrix. By using an optical microscope coupled with a shearing hotstage, the dewetting dynamics,…
Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) films possess different chemical and physical properties based on surface modification. The bond structure of pristine PDMS films and plasma treated PDMS films differ in a particular region of silicate bonds. We…
Friction between ring-polymer brushes at melt densities sliding past each other are studied using extensive course-grained molecular dynamics simulations and scaling arguments, and the results are compared to the friction between…
The shapes of liquid polystyrene (PS) droplets on viscoelastic polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) substrates are investigated experimentally using atomic force microscopy for a range of droplet sizes and substrate elasticities. These shapes, which…