Paper Number
AT6 

Session
Advanced Techniques and Methods

Title
Unearthing the power of small-angle neutron scattering for molecular rheology of polymers

Presentation Date and Time
February 15, 2017 (Wednesday) 4:00

Track / Room
Track 4 / Sandhill Crane

Authors (Click on name to view author profile)

1. Wang, Zhe (Oak Ridge National Laboratory)
2. Lam, Christopher N. (Oak Ridge National Laboratory)
3. Chen, Wei-Ren (Oak Ridge National Laboratory)
4. Wang, Yangyang (Oak Ridge National Laboratory)

Author and Affiliation Lines (in printed abstract book)
Zhe Wang, Christopher N. Lam, Wei-Ren Chen, and Yangyang Wang
Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831

Speaker / Presenter 
Wang, Yangyang

Text of Abstract
Small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) is a unique and powerful method for investigating the conformational properties of flowing polymers. Despite a long history of application of SANS in rheology, the full power of this technique is yet to be unearthed. In this talk, we will describe a new approach, based on spherical harmonic expansion (SHE), for analyzing the anisotropic 2D SANS spectra of polymers in flow. This spectrum decomposition method not only provides a convenient way for comparing experimental results with the predictions from statistical and molecular models, but also allows many new questions to be asked, including the affineness, symmetry, and heterogeneity of the macromolecular deformation. The usefulness of the SHE approach is demonstrated by several examples from our recent studies.