Paper Number
AP1 

Session
Award Presentations

Title
From simple polymers to supramolecular assemblies: Understanding and predicting the rheology of complex polymeric structures

Presentation Date and Time
February 16, 2017 (Thursday) 8:00

Track / Room
Award Presentations / Audubon A

Authors (Click on name to view author profile)

1. Van Ruymbeke, Evelyne (Université catholique de Louvain, Bio and Soft Matter, Inst. on Cond. Matter and Nano-science)

Author and Affiliation Lines (in printed abstract book)
Evelyne Van Ruymbeke
Bio and Soft Matter, Inst. on Cond. Matter and Nano-science, Université catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve B-1348, Belgium

Speaker / Presenter 
Van Ruymbeke, Evelyne

Text of Abstract
Understanding and tailoring the viscoelastic response of polymer melts or concentrated solutions from the knowledge of their molecular structure (architecture) represents a formidable challenge and remains a prime field of soft matter research, with several important and fundamental questions still open. To this end, we have developed a general coarse-grained approach based on the tube model, that we are now using as a predictive tool in order to investigate the viscoelastic properties of complex, entangled polymer architectures and to elucidate the molecular origin of their relaxation processes. In this presentation, we first outline the construction of the time marching algorithm, and then discuss some selected examples. We investigate the viscoelastic properties of polymer blends composed of monodisperse linear, star- or H- chains moving in a short linear matrix, which are of particular interest since these blends are governed by two distinct dynamics and since the motions of the slower chains are directly related to the dynamics of the short chains: depending on the time scale investigated, the latter can act either as part of the constraining environment, or as solvent for the long chains. In order to quantify the influence of this dynamic dilution process, we propose a new relaxation mechanism, which accounts for the tension equilibration along the long chain and provides an accurate description of their viscoelastic properties. Next, we implement this predictive toolbox to the complex rheology of entangled macromolecular self-assemblies built from sticky polymers (telechelic or randomly functionalized). These systems are modular, exhibiting reversible structural changes under the influence of temperature or deformation, and are usually thermorheologically complex. Their dynamic response is often characterized by two distinct processes, whose signature is the presence of two clear rubbery plateaux, yet the respective relaxation mechanisms bear similarities with those of simple binary blends.