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We investigate, using numerical simulations and analytical arguments, a simple one dimensional model for the swelling or the collapse of a closed polymer chain of size N, representing the dynamical evolution of a polymer in a \Theta-solvent…
To study the cooling behavior and the glass transition of polymer melts in bulk and with free surfaces a coarse-grained weakly semi-flexible polymer model is developed. Based on a standard bead spring model with purely repulsive…
We discuss the validity and the outcome of a scaling hypothesis proposed by us some years ago, according to which the influence of the density on the slowing down of flow and relaxation in glassforming liquids and polymers is described…
We propose that the super-Arrhenius relaxation rates observed in glassy materials are determined by thermally nucleated rearrangements of increasing numbers of molecules at decreasing temperatures. In our model of this mechanism,…
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 usefulness of glasses, and particularly of metallic glasses, in technological applications is often limited by their toughness, which is defined as the area under the stress vs. strain curve before plastic yielding. Recently toughness…
Rubber elasticity is the archetype of the entropic force emerging from the second law of thermodynamics; numerous experimental and theoretical studies on natural and synthetic rubbers have shown that the elasticity originates mostly from…
Glasses feature a broad distribution of relaxation times and activation energies without an obvious characteristic scale. At the same time, macroscopic quantities such as Newtonian viscosity and nonlinear plastic deformation, are…
Polymer gels such as jellies and soft contact lenses are soft solids consisting of three-dimensional polymer networks swollen with a large amount of solvent. For approximately 80 years, the swelling of polymer gels has been described using…
We show that the density and temperature dependences of the $\alpha$-relaxation time of several glassforming polymers can be described through a single scaling variable $X=e(\rho)/T$, where $e(\rho)$ is well fitted by a power law $\rho^x$,…
Extensibility is beyond the paradigm of classical soft glassy materials, and more broadly, yield-stress fluids. Recently, model yield-stress fluids with significant extensibility have been designed by adding polymeric phases to classically…
With increasing interest in the use of glassy carbon (GC) for a wide variety of application areas, the need for developing fundamental understanding of its mechanical properties has come to the forefront. Further, recent theoretical and…
We measure the isothermal rejuvenation of stable glass films of poly(styrene) and poly(methylmethacrylate). We demonstrate that the propagation of the front responsible for the transformation to a supercooled-liquid state can serve as a…
Constitutive equations are derived for the viscoelastoplastic response of amorphous glassy polymers at isothermal loading with small strains. A polymer is treated as an ensemble of cooperatively relaxing regions (CRR) which rearrange at…
Understanding the influence of activity on dense amorphous assemblies is crucial for biological processes such as wound healing, embryogenesis, or cancer progression. Here, we study the effect of self-propulsion forces of amplitude $f_0$…
Finding a suitably growing length scale that increases in tandem with the immense viscous slowdown of supercooled liquids is an open problem associated with the glass transition. Here, we define and demonstrate the existence of one such…
The Euler buckling of rods is a long-studied mechanical instability, and it remains relevant to this day, as the constituent components in many biological and physical systems are linear polymers, such as microtubules or carbon nanotubes.…
We study the uniaxial compressive behavior of disordered colloidal free-standing micropillars composed of a bidisperse mixture of 3 and 6 um polystyrene particles. Mechanical annealing of confined pillars enables variation of the packing…
We present a model of polymer growth and diffusion with frustration mechanisms for density increase and with diffusion rates of Arrhenius form with mass-dependent energy barriers Gamma(m) ~ (m-1)^gamma. It shows non-universal logarithmic…
Polymers near the glass transition temperature Tg often exhibit a breakdown of time-temperature-superposition (TTS), with chain relaxation times and viscosity exhibiting a weaker temperature dependence than segmental relaxation times. The…