Related papers: Modeling induction period of polymer crystallizati…
We develop an energetic model that captures the twisting behavior of spindle-shaped polymer microparticles with nematic ordering, which display remarkably different twisting behavior to ordinary nematics confined to spindles. We have…
Significant progress was made in recent years in the understanding of the proton spin kinetics in polymer melts. Generally, the proton spin kinetics is determined by intramolecular and intermolecular magnetic dipole-dipole contributions of…
We present experimental results for spinodal decomposition in polymer mixtures of gelatin and dextran. The domain growth law is found to be consistent with t^1/4-growth over extended time-regimes. Similar results are obtained from lattice…
A theoretical study on the phase behaviors of a polymer solution confined between two coaxial cylindrical walls is presented. For the case of a neutral inner cylinder, the spinodal point derived through the Gaussian fluctuation theory is…
We present a phenomenological treatment of diffusion-driven martensitic phase transformations in multi-component crystalline solids that arise from non-convex free energies in mechanical and chemical variables. The treatment describes…
Orientational dynamics in the isotropic phase of a comb-shaped nematic polymer with mesogenic and functional side groups was studied using the Kerr effect and dielectric spectroscopy. For the first time, it was found that in a mesogenic…
We study the rotational dynamics of a flexible polymer initially wrapped around a rigid rod and unwinding from it. This dynamics is of interest in several problems in biology and constitutes a fundamental instance of polymer relaxation from…
A coarse-grained computational model is used to investigate how the bending rigidity of a polymer under tension affects the formation of a trefoil knot. Thermodynamic integration techniques are applied to demonstrate that the free-energy…
As a prototype of systems bearing a localization-delocalization transition, the strand-separation (melting) process in a double-stranded biopolymer is studied by a mapping to a quantum-mechanical problem with short-ranged potentials. Both…
Glassy polymers show strain hardening: at constant extensional load, their flow first accelerates, then arrests. Recent experiments have found this to be accompanied by a striking and unexplained dip in the segmental relaxation time. Here…
We present an approach to studying directed polymers in interaction with a defect line and subject to a force, which pulls them away from the line. We consider in particular the case of inhomogeneous interactions. We first give a formula…
The dynamics of flexible polymer molecules are often assumed to be governed by hydrodynamics of the solvent. However there is considerable evidence that internal dissipation of a polymer contributes as well. Here we investigate the dynamics…
We propose an exactly solvable self-consistent kinetic model of polymerization-induced phase separation (PIPS) via spinodal decomposition. Using modified Cahn-Hilliard and Glotzer-Coniglio theories for early and late stages of spinodal…
Spherical confinement can act either stabilizing or destabilizing on the collapsed state of a semi-flexible polymer. General free-energy arguments suggest that the order of the unconstrained collapse transition is the distinguishing factor:…
Polar activity is shown here to induce a progressive local deformation of linear polymer chains, making a clear distinction between head and tail, while the overall chain conformation gets more compact. This breakdown of self-similarity,…
A self-interacting polymer can undergo an orientational ordering transition, depending on the magnitude of the nematic interaction. The effect of embedding such a polymer into a flexible surface on this transition is studied on the…
We have used mesoscale simulations to study the effect of immobile particles on microstructure formation during spinodal decomposition in ternary mixtures such as polymer blends. Specifically, we have explored a regime of interparticle…
In this work, the time evolution of the free induction decay caused by the local dipole field of a spherical magnetic perturber is analyzed. The complicated treatment of the diffusion process is considered by the strong-collision…
A mesoscopic, mixed particle- and field-based Brownian dynamics methodology for the simulation of entangled polymer melts has been developed. Polymeric beads consist of several Kuhn segments, and their motion is dictated by the Helmholtz…
The effect of confinement in the segmental relaxation of polymers is considered. On the basis of a thermodynamic model we discuss the emerging relevance of the fast degrees of freedom in stimulating the much slower segmental relaxation, as…