Entanglements in heterogeneous polymers

GARCÍA, NICOLÁS ARIEL; BARRAT, JEAN-LOUIS

Leganés (Madrid)

Seminario; Seminarios 2017 - Charla invitada.; 2017

Gregorio Millán Barbany of Institute Fluid Dynamics, Nanoscience and Industrial Mathematics. Universidad Carlos III

The dynamics of polymer melts and concentrated solutions depend strongly of the molecular weight of the polymer chains. The main effect of increasing molecular weight is the apparition of topological constraints between the chains called entanglements. These constraints dramatically change physical properties such as viscosity, dynamics, rheology and the mechanical behavior. Despite its importance, there are still open fundamental questions about the physics of entanglements. Due to many technical issues, building appropriates and practical approaches to simulate entanglements that help to tackle these open problems is a long-standing challenge. In this work, we show how a novel and promising coarse-graining for simulating entangled polymers can be successfully used to study topological constraints in heterogeneous systems like polymer melts under strong confinement (thin films) and nanostructured block copolymers, both important regarding basic research and technological applications.