Related papers: A New Phenomenon: Sub-Tg, Solid-State, Plasticity-…
The free surface of glassy polymers exhibits enhanced segmental dynamics compared to the bulk, forming a liquid-like layer that lowers the glass transition temperature (Tg) in nanometersized polymer samples. Recent studies have shown that…
Elucidating the physics of a concentrated suspension of ring polymers, or of an ensemble of ring polymers in a complex environment, is an important outstanding question in polymer physics. Many of the characteristic features of these…
The isothermal, isobaric spontaneous crystallization of a supercooled polymer melt is investigated by MD simulation of an ensemble of fully-flexible linear chains. Frustration is introduced via two incommensurate length scales set by the…
Numerical methods are developed to solve the problem of abnormal changes of current (conductivity) in polymer composite films which may be used as current, pressure or temperature sensors. General nonlinear model includes the heat equation,…
Plasma treatment of polymer films results in their electrical charging, which in turn gives rise to an increase in their surface energy. The process results in pronounced hydrophilization of the polymer surfaces. A phenomenological theory…
Dense suspensions of hard particles in a liquid can exhibit strikingly counter-intuitive behavior, such as discontinuous shear thickening (DST) [1-8] and reversible shear jamming (SJ) into a state with finite yield stress [9-13]. Recent…
Temperature-responsive properties of surface-attached poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) network films with well-controlled chemistry are investigated. The synthesis consists of cross-linking and grafting preformed ene-reactive polymer…
Soft supramolecular materials are promising for the design of innovative and highly tunable adhesives. These materials are composed of polymer chains functionalized by strongly interacting moieties, sometimes called "stickers". In order to…
We have investigated the effects of either distorting hydrogen bonds or removing proton degeneracy on the thermodynamic properties of a minimal model for associating liquids. The presence of two liquid phases and a density anomaly is…
Tethered particle motion (TPM) --- the motion of a micro- or nanoparticle tethered to a substrate by a macromolecule --- is a system that has proven extremely useful for its ability to reveal physical features of the tether, because the…
Recently, the films of the Ruddlesden-Popper (RP) nickelate superconductors, in which the (La,Pr)$_3$Ni$_2$O$_7$ system exhibits a remarkable transition temperature $T_c$ exceeding 40 K, were synthesized at ambient pressure. We…
Thin polymer films have striking dynamical properties that differ from their bulk counterparts. With the simple geometry of a stepped polymer film on a substrate, we probe mobility above and below the glass transition temperature…
We demonstrate that plastic deformation in solids is associated with a dynamic transition that is reminiscent to the transition from a superconducting to a mixed phase in Type II superconductors. We report analytic calculations, extensive…
Protein molecules often self-assemble by means of non-covalent physical bonds to form extended filaments, such as amyloids, F-actin, intermediate filaments, and many others. The kinetics of filament growth is limited by the disassembly…
The size and shape of a large variety of polymeric particles, including biological cells, star polymers, dendrimes, and microgels, depend on the applied stresses as the particles are extremely soft. In high-density suspensions these…
As liquids approach the glass transition temperature, dynamical heterogeneity emerges as a crucial universal feature of their behavior. Dynamic facilitation, where local motion triggers further motion nearby, plays a major role in this…
Thermodynamics tells us to expect underwater contact between two hydrophobic surfaces to result in stronger adhesion compared to two hydrophilic surfaces. However, presence of water changes not only energetics, but also the dynamic process…
Strongly correlated amorphous solids are a class of glass-formers whose inter-particle potential admits an approximate inverse power-law form in a relevant range of inter-particle distances. We study the steady-state plastic flow of such…
The advent of new-class of high-mobility semiconducting polymers opens up a window to address fundamental issues in electrical transport mechanism such as hopping between localized states versus extended state conduction. Here, we…
Poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) is a semi--crystalline polymer that can be crystallized to different degrees heating from the amorphous state. Even when primary crystallization has been completed, secondary crystallization can take place…