Related papers: Measuring topological constraint relaxation in rin…
The statistical mechanics of polymer loops entangled in the two-dimensional array of randomly distributed obstacles of infinite length is discussed. The area of the loop projected to the plane perpendicular to the obstacles is used as a…
Semi-flexible polymers in crowded environments exhibit complex dynamics that play a crucial role in various biological and material design processes. Based on the classic reptation theory, it is generally believed that semiflexible polymers…
The coupled dynamics of entangled polymers which span a broad time and length scales govern the unique viscoelastic properties of polymers. To follow chain mobility by numerical simulations from the intermediate Rouse and reptation regimes…
In recent times some interesting field theoretical descriptions of the statistical mechanics of entangling polymers have been proposed by various authors. In these approaches, a single test polymer fluctuating in a background of static…
The dynamic-mechanical response of flexible polymer networks is studied in the framework of tube model, in the limit of small affine deformations, using the approach based on Rayleighian dissipation function. The dynamic complex modulus G*…
Nonlinear extensional flows are common in polymer processing but remain challenging theoretically because dramatic stretching of chains deforms the entanglement network far from equilibrium. Here, we present coarse-grained simulations of…
We report simulation results on melts of entangled linear polymers confined in a free-standing thin film. We study how the geometric constraints imposed by the confinement alter the entanglement state of the system compared to the…
A ring polymer in a confining space may exhibit at least two phases, namely an expanded (or solvent-rich phase) if its concentration is small, or a collapsed (or polymer-rich phase) when it is concentrated and compressed. These phases are…
We investigate high-Reynolds number turbulence in dilute polymer solutions. We show the existence of a critical value of the Reynolds number which separates two different regimes. In the first regime, below the transition, the influence of…
It is increasingly common to model, simulate, and process complex materials based on loopy structures, such as in yarn-level cloth garments, which possess topological constraints between inter-looping curves. While the input model may…
We present a theoretical model for understanding the kinetics of a long polymer in solution. A Smoluchowski-like equation has been used to model the problem of polymer looping with a Dirac delta function sink of finite strength. The results…
The properties of the interface in a phase-separated solution of polymers with different degrees of polymerization and Kuhn segment lengths are calculated. The starting point is the planar interface, the profile of which is calculated in…
The statistical mechanics of a linear non-interacting polymer chain with a large number of monomers is considered with fixed angular momentum. The radius of gyration for a linear polymer is derived exactly by functional integration. This…
Understanding the concept of rheology in polymer melts with dissolved gases like CO2 is crucial in development of high quality polymer foams which are commonly manufactured by foam extrusion processes. The crystallization and rheological…
We have developed a theory of polymer entanglement using an extended Cahn-Hilliard functional, with two extra terms. One is a nonlocal attractive term, operating over mesoscales, which is interpreted as giving rise to entanglement, and the…
Via large-scale molecular dynamics simulations, we observe the melting of a topological glass of stiff ring polymers by incorporating flexible ring polymers, along an isobaric path. As more flexible ring polymers are introduced, cluster…
Dense rubbery networks are highly entangled polymer systems, with significant topological restrictions for the mobility of neighbouring chains and crosslinks preventing the reptation constraint release. In a mean field approach,…
We present a novel and rigorous approach to the Langevin dynamics of ideal polymer chains subject to internal distance constraints. The permanent constraints are modelled by harmonic potentials in the limit when the strength of the…
We study the relaxation dynamics of a coarse-grained polymer chain at different degrees of stretching by both analytical means and numerical simulations. The macromolecule is modelled as a string of beads, connected by anharmonic springs,…
Recently many important biopolymers have been found to possess intrinsic curvature. Tubulin protofilaments in animal cells, FtsZ filaments in bacteria and double stranded DNA are examples. We examine how intrinsic curvature influence the…