Unexpected Stretching of Entangled Ring Macromolecules.

Journal Article (Journal Article)

In the melt state at equilibrium, entangled nonconcatenated ring macromolecules adapt more compact conformations compared to their linear analogs and do not form an entanglement network. We show here that, when subjected to uniaxial stretching, they exhibit a unique response, which sets them apart from any other polymer. Remarkably, whereas both linear and ring polymers strain-harden, the viscosity of the rings increases dramatically (the melt thickens) at very low stretch rates due to the unraveling of their conformations along the stretching direction. At high rates, stretching leads to viscosity thinning similar to that of entangled linear polymers, albeit with subtle differences.

Full Text

Duke Authors

Cited Authors

  • Huang, Q; Ahn, J; Parisi, D; Chang, T; Hassager, O; Panyukov, S; Rubinstein, M; Vlassopoulos, D

Published Date

  • May 2019

Published In

Volume / Issue

  • 122 / 20

Start / End Page

  • 208001 -

PubMed ID

  • 31172770

Pubmed Central ID

  • PMC6778440

Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)

  • 1079-7114

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

  • 0031-9007

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1103/physrevlett.122.208001

Language

  • eng