Telechelic Melt Polymer's Structure Variation Depending on Shear Deformation

Evaluation of viscosity and shear stress in a telechelic polymer when various shear rates are applied

“…All chains in a given system were identical and had the generic formula AB 12 A, where A is a terminal bead and B is an internal bead. The computational model used here is the same as that employed in our previous papers [31,32].…”

“…We always took ε BB = 1, while the strength of the A···A interaction was allowed to vary. In previous works [31,32], we assigned three different values to ε AA : 1 (corresponding to A=B and thus to weak homopolymer interactions), 4 (moderately strong interactions), or 6 (strong interactions). In the present work, we added one more possible value: 7 (very strong interactions).…”

“…These polymers have been the focus of a sizeable number of theoretical studies [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21] and computer simulations [22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32]. The precise structures of the aggregates and the behavior of the polymers under different conditions (such as static conditions, for instance when they are confined to a narrow volume between two parallel surfaces [30] or to an isotropic volume [31], or, as discussed in our previous paper [32], when a shear deformation is applied) have been clarified.…”

“…The precise structures of the aggregates and the behavior of the polymers under different conditions (such as static conditions, for instance when they are confined to a narrow volume between two parallel surfaces [30] or to an isotropic volume [31], or, as discussed in our previous paper [32], when a shear deformation is applied) have been clarified. Each terminal "bead" (i.e., terminal monomer or atom, also simply denoted "A," whereas a non-terminal monomer or atom is denoted "B") of such a polymer has self-associative properties, and tends to aggregate with the other terminal bead in the same chain, or with the terminal beads of different chains, thus forming clusters.…”

“…For large clusters, the packing of A atoms is regular, as in a solid (hexagonal or bcc) [31], resulting in a gel. In a previous work [32], we studied the consequences of applying a shear deformation to such clusters in terms of the chain conformation. As expected, the clusters broke apart due to the destruction of every interaction between A atoms; the most important result of this was that high deformation caused the chains to stretch, leading to chain ordering similar to that seen in a nematic liquid crystal.…”