Paper Number
SM15 My Program
Session
Polymer Solutions, Melts and Blends
Title
Stringiness, spinnability, and sprayability of polymer solutions
Presentation Date and Time
October 20, 2025 (Monday) 4:45
Track / Room
Track 3 / Coronado + DeVargas
Authors
- Edano, Louie (University of Illinois Chicago, Chemical Engineering)
- Sepahvand, Somayeh (University of Illinois Chicago, Chemical Engineering)
- Sharma, Vivek (University of Illinois Chicago)
Author and Affiliation Lines
Louie Edano, Somayeh Sepahvand and Vivek Sharma
Chemical Engineering, University of Illinois Chicago, Chicago, IL 60607
Speaker / Presenter
Edano, Louie
Keywords
non-Newtonian fluids; polymer solutions; rheometry; techniques
Text of Abstract
Stringiness, or a materials propensity to form long, thin, persistent threads, is a phenomenon which occurs all around us in everyday life. From the stringiness in nature that allows plants and insects to trap their prey, from food products like sauces, syrups, and other culinary creations that rely on stringiness for consistency and texture, from biological systems like saliva that transmit illnesses or help form cohesive boluses for mastication and swallowing processes, and paints, coatings, sprays and films which rely on stringiness to achieve desired application conditions, stringiness controls how fluids in these applications behave. An understanding of stringiness is especially critical in applications such as spraying and fiber spinning, where formulation design dictates the performance of the product. To create sprayable or spinnable solutions, polymers are often used as rheological modifiers, leading to varying levels of stringiness. In this work, Dripping-onto-Substrate (DoS) and Dripping protocols are incorporated to observe stringiness and are utilized to collect extensional rheological properties. Shear and extensional rheological properties of polymer solutions are then measured and correlated to stringiness, sprayability and spinnability.