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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: