Rheology of a Supercooled Polymer Melt

Abstract

Molecular dynamics simulations are performed for a polymer melt composed of short chains in quiescent and sheared conditions. The stress relaxation function $G(t)$ exhibits a stretched exponential form in a relatively early stage and ultimately follows the Rouse function in quiescent supercooled state. Transient stress evolution after application of shear obeys the linear growth ${\int }_0^{t}d{t}^{\prime }G(t^{\prime })$ for strain less than 0.1 and then saturates into a non-Newtonian viscosity. In steady states, strong shear-thinning and elongation of chains into ellipsoidal shapes are found at extremely small shear. A glassy component of the stress is much enhanced in these examples.

arXiv comment4 pages, 5 figures