Related papers: Semidilute Principle for Gels
A coarse-grained multi-blob description of polymer solutions is presented, based on soft, transferable effective interactions between bonded and non-bonded blobs. The number of blobs is chosen such that the blob density does not exceed…
We develop a new quantitative molecular theory of liquid-phase dipolar polymer gels. We model monomer units of the polymer network as a couple of charged sites separated by a fluctuating distance. For the first time, within the random phase…
The generalized entropy theory (GET) offers many insights into how molecular parameters influence polymer glass-formation. Given the fact that chain rigidity often plays a critical role in understanding the glass-formation of polymer…
Self-consistent field theory (SCFT) is one of the useful methods to simulate phase separated structures of multi-component polymer systems. In this article, we propose an SCFT for semiflexible polymer melts, where the basic equations for…
We model the behaviour of a single colloid embedded in a cross-linked polymer gel, immersed in a viscous background fluid. External fields actuate the particle into a periodic motion, which deforms the embedding matrix and creates a local…
The static and dynamic properties of dendrimers in semidilute solutions of linear chains of comparable size are investigated using Brownian dynamics simulations. The radius of gyration and diffusivity of a wide variety of low generation…
Generalized mode-coupling theory (GMCT) constitutes a systematically correctable, first-principles theory to study the dynamics of supercooled liquids and the glass transition. It is a hierarchical framework that, through the incorporation…
When sheared, most elastic solids such as metals, rubbers and polymer hydrogels dilate in the direction perpendicular to the shear plane. This well-known behaviour known as the Poynting effect is characterized by a positive normal stress.…
Rheo-optical measurements on Polyemethyl methacrylate (PMMA) and 4-Butoxycarbonylmethylurethane (4-BCMU) show that these synthetic random coil polymer chains compress in Couette flow at semi-dilute concentrations. All previous models of…
A polymer network can imbibe water, forming an aggregate called hydrogel, and undergo large and inhomogeneous deformation with external mechanical constraint. Due to the large deformation, nonlinearity plays a crucial role, which also…
We present a unified scaling theory for the dynamics of monomers for dilute solutions of semiflexible polymers under good solvent conditions in the free draining limit. Our theory encompasses the well-known regimes of mean square…
Thermo-responsive hydrogels are a promising material for creating controllable actuators for use in micro-scale devices, since they expand and contract significantly (absorbing or expelling fluid) in response to relatively small temperature…
Motivated by the structure of networks of cross-linked cytoskeletal biopolymers, we study the orientationally ordered phases in two-dimensional networks of randomly cross-linked semiflexible polymers. We consider permanent cross-links which…
Nanometer-thick supported lms of polymer melts spontaneously form and spread around sessile droplets that are deposited on oxidized silicon wafers. At steady state, the lms become dense and adopt a uniform thickness which is equal to twice…
We propose a simple mean-field theory for the structure of ring polymer melts. By combining the notion of topological volume fraction and a classical van der Waals theory of fluids, we take into account many body effects of topological…
From glycosylated cell surfaces to sterically stabilized liposomes, polymers attached to membranes attract biological and therapeutic interest. Can the scaling laws of polymer "brushes" describe the physical properties of these coats? We…
We utilize the generalized entropy theory (GET) of glass formation to address one of the most singular and least understood properties of polymer glass-forming liquids in comparison to atomic and small molecule liquids -- the often…
The microscopic model of semi-crystalline polymer in high-elastic state is proposed. The model is based on the assumption that, below the melting temperature, the semi-crystalline polymer comprises crystal nuclei connected by stretched…
We assess experimentally the scaling laws that characterize the mixing region produced by the Rayleigh-Taylor instability in a confined porous medium. In particular, we wish to assess experimentally the existence of a superlinear scaling…
The goal of this paper is to develop and analyze some fully discrete finite element methods for a displacement-pressure model modeling swelling dynamics of polymer gels under mechanical constraints. In the model, the swelling dynamics is…