Molecular bottlebrushes are branched polymers with very high graft density which results in very rigid backbones. This conformation provides unique rheological properties compared to linear polymer melts. For instance, their very large entanglement molecular weight (Me) results in very low elastic modulus, which could be used to produce super-soft elastomers [Pakula et al., Polymer 47, 7198...
Nonlinear deformations are a key ingredient for applications of rheologically complex materials,
e.g. for the processing of polymeric materials stretching, orientation, dissentaglement of
polymer chains occurs, with the interactions between flow field and constituents dictating the
overall flow dynamics and subsequent material properties/performance. In this framework, we
focus mainly on...
The mechanical properties of polymer melts under deformation are well described by the tube model developed in the 1970s by de Gennes and Doi and Edwards. In the model, the restricted motion of a chain due to its neighbors is modeled as if the chain ia confined to a tube. However, the validity of the tube model for rapid deformations compared to the molecular relaxation was recently questioned...
