Illinois professor Kenneth S. Schweizer develop a new theory that predicts why entangled polymers are confined to a tube-like region of space and how they respond to applied forces.
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. A new physics-based theory could give researchers a deeper understanding of the unusual, slow dynamics of liquids composed of large polymers. This advance provides a better picture of how polymer molecules respond under fast-flow, high-stress processing conditions for plastics and other polymeric materials. Kenneth S. Schweizer, the G. Ronald and Margaret H. Professor of materials science and engineering at the University of Illinois, and graduate student Daniel Sussman published their findings in the journal Physical Review Letters. "This is the first microscopic theory of entangled polymer liquids at a fundamental force level which constructs the dynamic confinement potential that controls slow macromolecular motion," said Schweizer, who also is a professor of chemistry and of chemical and biomolecular engineering and is affiliated with the Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory at the U. of I. "Our breakthrough lays the foundation for an enormous amount of future work relevant to both the synthetic polymers of plastics engineering and the biopolymers relevant to cell biology and mechanics." Polymers are long, large molecules that are ubiquitous in biology, chemistry and materials, from the stiff filaments that give cells their structure to plastics. Linear polymers fall into two classes: rigid rods like uncooked spaghetti or flexible strands like al dente noodles. When in a dense solution, linear polymers become entangled like spaghetti in a pot, intertwining and crowding each other.
TO READ THIS ARTICLE, CREATE YOUR ACCOUNT
And extend your reading, free of charge and with no commitment.
