Nonlinear Rheological Behaviors in Polymer Melts after Step Shear

Using molecular dynamics simulation, we investigate the evolution of chain conformation, stress relaxation, and fracture for a polymer melt between two walls after step shear. We find that the characteristic overlap time for the reduced relaxation moduli and the time that the stretched primitive chain retracts to its equilibrium length are both much longer than the Rouse time. Importantly, we observe significant fracture-like flow after shear cessation. While there is considerable randomness in the location of the fracture plane and the magnitude of displacement from sample to sample, our analysis suggests that the randomness is not due to thermal noise, but may reflect inherent structural and dynamic heterogeneity in the entangled polymer network

Two-step relaxation and the breakdown of the Stokes-Einstein relation in glass-forming liquids

It is well known that glass-forming liquids exhibit a number of anomalous dynamical phenomena, most notably a two-step relaxation in the self-intermediate scattering function and the breakdown of the Stokes-Einstein (SE) relation, as they are cooled toward the glass transition temperature. While these phenomena are generally ascribed to dynamic heterogeneity, specifically to the presence of slow- and fast-moving particles, a quantitative elucidation of the two-step relaxation and the violation of the SE relation in terms of these concepts has not been successful. In this work, we propose a classification of particles according to the rank order of their displacements (from an arbitrarily defined origin of time), and we divide the particles into long-distance (LD), medium-distance, and short-distance (SD) traveling particle groups. Using molecular-dynamics simulation data of the Kob-Andersen model, we show quantitatively that the LD group is responsible for the fast relaxation in the two-step relaxation process in the intermediate scattering function, while the SD group gives rise to the slow (α) relaxation. Furthermore, our analysis reveals that τ_α is controlled by the SD group, while the ensemble-averaged diffusion coefficient D is controlled by both the LD and SD groups. The combination of these two features provides a natural explanation for the breakdown in the SE relation at low temperature. In addition, we find that the α-relaxation time, τ_α, of the overall system is related to the relaxation time of the LD particles, τ_(LD), as τ_α = τ₀exp(Ωτ_(LD)/k_BT)

Topological Forces in a Model System for Reptation Dynamics

We construct a micromechanical version of an early model for topologically constrained polymers -- a 2D chain amongst point-like uncrossable obstacles -- which allows us to explicitly elucidate the role of topological forces beyond confining the chain to a curvilinear tube-like path. Our simulations reveal that linear relaxation of the contour length \textit{along the tube} is slowed down by the presence of topological forces that can be considered as additional effective topological ``friction'' in quiescence. However, this perspective fails in predicting the strong forces that resist the imposed curvilinear motion of the chain during nonlinear startup microrheology. These entropic forces are nonlocal in nature and result from an unexpected coupling between orientational and longitudinal dynamics.Comment: Comments welcom

Salt-Induced Liquid–Liquid Phase Separation: Combined Experimental and Theoretical Investigation of Water–Acetonitrile–Salt Mixtures

Salt-induced liquid–liquid phase separation in liquid mixtures is a common phenomenon in nature and in various applications, such as in separation and extraction of chemicals. Here, we present results of a systematic investigation of the phase behaviors in water–acetonitrile–salt mixtures using a combination of experiment and theory. We obtain complete ternary phase diagrams for nine representative salts in water–acetonitrile mixtures by cloud point and component analysis. We construct a thermodynamic free energy model by accounting for the nonideal mixing of the liquids, ion hydration, electrostatic interactions, and Born energy. Our theory yields phase diagrams in good agreement with the experimental data. By comparing the contributions due to the electrostatic interaction, Born energy, and hydration, we find that hydration is the main driving force for the liquid–liquid separation and is a major contributor to the specific ion effects. Our theory highlights the important role of entropy in the hydration driving force. We discuss the implications of our findings in the context of salting-out assisted liquid–liquid extraction and make suggestions for selecting salt ions to optimize the separation performance