Related papers: Improving the functionality of non-stretching appr…
The non-stretching approximation of polymer rheology simplifies a constitutive equation but fundamentally changes its behavior in fast flows, and the circumstances under which fast flows emerge cannot always be predicted a-priori. In this…
We show that non-entangled polymers display an elastic-like behaviour at a macroscopic scale (probed at some 0.100 mm thickness) up to at least hundred degrees above the glass transition temperature. This observation, found under…
Significant challenges exist in the nonlinear extensional rheology of entangled polymers. With simulations, we show that the key to understanding this problem is to recognize the existence and importance of a strain-induced crossover from…
Reptation theory has been highly successful in explaining the unusual material properties of entangled polymer solutions. It reduces the complex many-body dynamics to a single-polymer description where each polymer is envisaged to be…
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…
Entangled networks of stiff biopolymers exhibit complex dynamic response, emerging from the topological constraints that neighboring filaments impose upon each other. We propose a class of reference models for entanglement dynamics of stiff…
Some recent results on the rotational dynamics of polymers are reviewed and extended. We focus here on the relaxation of a polymer, either flexible or semiflexible, initially wrapped around a rigid rod. We also study the steady polymer…
We analyze the nonequilibrium dynamics of single inextensible semiflexible biopolymers as stretching forces are applied at the ends. Based on different (contradicting) heuristic arguments, various scaling laws have been proposed for the…
Based on non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations of entangled polymer melts, a recent Letter [Phys. Rev. Lett. $\textbf{121}$, 047801 (2018), arXiv:1806.09509] claims that the rising extensional stress is quantitatively consistent…
The stretchability of polymeric materials is critical to many applications such as stretchable electronics and soft robotics, yet the stretchability of conventional cross-linked linear polymers is limited by the entanglements between…
We use computer simulations to study the relaxation of strongly deformed highly entangled polymer melts in the non-linear viscoelastic regime, focusing on anisotropic chain conformations after isochoric elongation. The Doi-Edwards tube…
Nonequilibrium molecular dynamics simulations are used to study the deformation behavior of disperse polymer melts by tracking test chains of length N = Mw, the weight average molecular weight, in melts of varying dispersity. At high strain…
We briefly review the recent advances in the rheology of entangled polymers and identify emerging research trends and outstanding challenges, especially with respect to branched polymers. Emphasis is placed on the role of well-characterized…
We discuss simulations of a simple model for polymer blends in the framework of the Rouse model. At odds with standard predictions, large dynamic asymmetry between the two components induces strong non-exponentiality of the Rouse modes for…
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 $\phi_R$.…
We present a theory for the elasticity of cross-linked stiff polymer networks. Stiff polymers, unlike their flexible counterparts, are highly anisotropic elastic objects. Similar to mechanical beams stiff polymers easily deform in bending,…
We present a new asymptotic strategy for general micro-macro models which analyze complex viscoelastic fluids governed by coupled multiscale dynamics. In such models, the elastic stress appearing in the macroscopic continuum equation is…
We study the Cowling approximation by analytical means as applied to a system of linear differential equations arising from models of non-radial stellar pulsation. We consider various asymptotic cases, including those of high harmonic…
We investigate the stretching response of a thick polymer model by means of extensive stochastic simulations. The computational results are synthesized in an analytic expression that characterizes how the force versus elongation curve…
Recent developments of microscopic mechanical experiments allow the manipulation of individual polymer molecules in two main ways: \textit{uniform} stretching by external forces and \textit{non-uniform} stretching by external fields. Many…