Related papers: Topological Interaction between Loop Structures in…
We carry out a direct comparison of experimental and numerical realizations of the exact same granular system as it undergoes shear jamming. We adjust the numerical methods used to optimally represent the experimental settings and outcomes…
Liquid crystalline networks (LCNs) are stimuli-responsive materials formed from polymeric chains cross-linked with rod-like mesogenic segments, which, in the nematic phase, align along a non-polar director. A key characteristic of these…
Extensive molecular simulations are applied to characterize the equilibrium dynamics, entanglement topology, and nonlinear extensional rheology of symmetric ring-linear polymer blends with systematically varied ring fraction $\phi_R$.…
A polymer-chain network is a collection of interconnected polymer-chains, made themselves of the repetition of a single pattern called a monomer. Our first main result establishes that, for a class of models for polymer-chain networks, the…
We introduce a mathematical model, based on networks, for the elasticity and plasticity of materials. We define the tension tensor for a periodic graph in a Euclidean space, and we show that the tension tensor expresses elasticity under…
In this work we examine the effect of R=[NCO]/[OH] in the R=<1 regime, on the resultant structural topology of polybutadiene polyurethane (PBPU) elastomer networks based on hydroxy-terminated polybutadiene (HTPB). We employ…
We employ a mathematical model to analyze stress chains in thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs) with a microphase-separated spherical structure composed of triblock copolymers. The model represents stress chains during uniaxial and biaxial…
The viscous flow of polymer chains in dense melts is dominated by topological constraints whenever the single chain contour length, N, becomes larger than the characteristic scale Ne, defining comprehensively the macroscopic rheological…
In this work a field theoretical model is constructed to describe the statistical mechanics of an arbitrary number of topologically linked polymers in the context of the analytical approach of Edwards. As an application, the effects of the…
Simulations in which a globular ring polymer with delocalized knots is separated in two interacting loops by a slipping link, or in two non-interacting globuli by a wall with a hole, show how the minimal crossing number of the knots…
The elasticity of rubbery polymer networks has been considered to be entropy-driven. On the other hand, studies on single polymer chain mechanics have revealed that the elasticity of ultimately stretched polymer chains is dominated by the…
Chromosomes are crumpled polymer chains further folded into a sequence of stochastic loops via loop extrusion. While extrusion has been verified experimentally, the particular means by which the extruding complexes bind DNA polymer remains…
Circuit topology refers to the arrangement of interactions between objects belonging to a linearly ordered object set. Linearly ordered set of objects are common in nature and occur in a wide range of applications in economics, computer…
Low-connectivity polymer networks were recently found to behave auxetically when subjected to small tensions, that is, their Poisson's ratio $\nu$ becomes negative. In addition, for specific state points, numerical simulations revealed that…
Polymerization and formation of crosslinked polymer networks are important processes in manufacturing, materials fabrication, and in the case of hydrated polymer networks, synthesis of biomedical materials, drug delivery, and tissue…
In the first part of the paper we show that the constraining potentials introduced to mimic entanglement effects in Edwards' tube model and Flory's constrained junction model are diagonal in the generalized Rouse modes of the corresponding…
Polymer networks invariably possess topological inhomogeneities in the form of loops and dangling ends. The macroscopic properties of such materials are directly dependent on the local cyclic topology around nodes and chains. Here, a new…
Topology optimization is an important basis for the design of components. Here, the optimal structure is found within a design space subject to boundary conditions. Thereby, the specific material law has a strong impact on the final design.…
Mixtures of polymers of varying topologies and stiffnesses display complex emergent rheological properties that often cannot be predicted from their single-component counterparts. For example, entangled blends of ring and linear polymers…
For monodomain nematic elastomers, we construct generalised elastic-nematic constitutive models combining purely elastic and neoclassical-type strain-energy densities. Inspired by recent developments in stochastic elasticity, we extend…