Dynamically Heterogeneous Relaxation of Entangled Polymer Chains

Abstract

Stress relaxation following deformation of an entangled polymeric liquid is thought to be affected by transient reforming of chain entanglements. In this work, we use single molecule techniques to study the relaxation of individual polymers in the transition regime from unentangled to entangled solutions. Our results reveal the emergence of dynamic heterogeneity underlying polymer relaxation behavior, including distinct molecular sub-populations described by a single-mode and a double-mode exponential relaxation process. The slower double-mode timescale ${\tau }_{d,2}$ is consistent with a characteristic reptation time, whereas the single-mode timescale ${\tau }_s$ and the fast double-mode timescale ${\tau }_{d,1}$ are attributed to local regions of transient disentanglement due to deformation.

arXiv comment5 pages, 3 figures

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Cited by in corpus (7)

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• How do polymers stretch in capillary-driven extensional flows?
• Recoil experiments determine the eigenmodes of viscoelastic fluids
• Dynamics and Rheology of Ring-Linear Blend Semidilute Solutions in Extensional Flow: Modeling and Molecular Simulations
• Polymer threadings and rigidity dictate the viscoelasticity and nonlinear relaxation dynamics of entangled ring-linear blends and their composites with rigid rod microtubules