Polymer dynamics at different length/time scales |
The overall objective of this topic is to gain
unprecedented understanding of rheology based on microscopic insight of complex
polymer systems. Polymers are quite complex systems. As chains made of simply connected objects, polymers show typical soft matter properties, whereas glass-forming features prevail at local scales. These long objects present an intriguing dynamical complexity with processes spreading over more than 15 orders of magnitude in frequency/time – from chain reptation to very localized atomic motions. The key issue is to sort out the different relaxation mechanisms determining the rheological properties of polymers with complex molecular architectures: dendrite chain structures, combs, rings, starts as well as high molecular weight linear polymers. The broad dynamical range demands the combination of different structural (small and wide angle neutrons and X-ray scattering) spectroscopic (dielectric, mechanical, NMR) and dynamic scattering techniques (quasielastic neutron scattering) as well as molecular dynamic simulations (atomistic and coarse grained models). See below a list with some representative publications and some selected results. |
Chain dynamics of poly(ethylene-alt-propylene) melts by means of coarse-grained simulations based on atomistic molecular dynamics R. Pérez-Aparicio, J. Colmenero, F. Alvarez, J. T. Padding and W. J. Briels J. Chem. Phys. 132 (2010) 024904 (11 pages) DOI: 10.1063/1.3280067 Rouse-Model-Based Description of the Dielectric Relaxation of Nonentangled Linear 1,4-cis-Polyisoprene Clement Riedel, Angel Alegría, Philippe Tordjeman and Juan Colmenero Macromolecules, 42 (2009) 8492–8499 DOI: 10.1021/ma901102q Quasielastic neutron scattering in soft matter (review article) Victoria García Sakai, Arantxa Arbe Current Opinion in Colloid & Interface Science 14 (2009) 381–390 DOI: 10.1016/j.cocis.2009.04.002 |
Selected Results: |