STRESS-INDUCED POLYMER DEFORMATION IN SHEAR FLOWS

By means of dynamic Monte Carlo simulation of bulk lattice polymers in Couette shear flow, it was demonstrated that in addition to velocity gradient the constant driving forces acting as the activation aspect of shear stresses can also raise polymer deformation. Moreover, enhancing driving forces in a flow without any velocity gradient can reproduce non- Newtonian fluid behaviors of long-chain polymers. The simulations of Poiseuille shear flow with a gradient of shear stresses show that, the velocity gradient dominates small deformation in the flow layers of low shear stresses, while the shear stress dominates large deformation in the flow layers of high shear stresses. This result implies that the stress-induced deformation could be mainly responsible for the occurrence of non-Newtonian fluid behaviors of real polymers at high shear rates.

Deformation of amorphous azobenzene-containing polymer films induced by polarized light

Photomechanical response of amorphous polymer films containing azobenzene chromophores in side chains is studied. By invoking the trans-cis isomerization mech- anism, the steady-state deformation of the film induced by uniform illumination of linearly polarized light is obtained analytically. The deformation turns out to be of entropic origin,produced to compensate the entropy decrease due to photo-induced redistribution of azobenzene chromophores normal to the polarization direction. The predicted elongation direction of the film is consistent with previous experimental observations.

MOLECULAR SIMULATION STUDY ON THE CHANGE OF POLYMER STRUCTURE DURING YIELDING

A better understanding of a recently raised argument on whether there occurs a structure change during yielding has been acquired by using molecular simulation. That is, when monitoring the displacements of all atoms before and after the yield, a structure transition does occur, which is the 'atomic jump' that coordinates the amount of the atoms in the polymer and makes a large step beyond similar to0.05 nm for all those atoms. Results indicate that the complex of polymer chain packing induces the multiple atomic jumps around the yield point. This explains why polymers have a broader yielding peak.

Thermo-and photo-driven soft actuators based on crosslinked liquid crystalline polymers

Crosslinked liquid crystalline polymers（CLCPs） are a type of promising material that possess both the order of liquid crystals and the properties of polymer networks.The anisotropic deformation of the CLCPs takes place when the mesogens experience order to disorder change in response to external stimuli; therefore,they can be utilized to fabricate smart actuators,which have potential applications in artificial muscles,micro-optomechanical systems,optics,and energyharvesting fields.In this review the recent development of thermo-and photo-driven soft actuators based on the CLCPs are summarized.

Rheo-NMR: A versatile hyphenated technique for capturing molecular dynamics and structure under flow

The general development of Rheo-NMR during the last four decades as well as selective hyphenated apparatuses is presented.Based on different magnet types,the current review is divided into two categories,namely low-field and high-field NMR,while the timedomain NMR is normally applied in the former case and the frequency-domain NMR is adopted in the latter one.Depending on different rheometer cells,it can be further divided into tensile and shear mode Rheo-NMR.The combination of various rheometer cells and NMR facility guarantees our acquisition of molecular level structure and dynamics information under flow conditions,which is crucial for our understanding of the molecular origin of complex fluids.A personal perspective is also presented at last to highlight possible development in this direction.

EXTENSIONAL FLOW OF BULK POLYMERS STUDIED BY DYNAMIC MONTE CARLO SIMULATIONS

Dynamic Monte Carlo simulations of bulk lattice polymers driven through planar geometries with sequentially converging, parallel and diverging spaces between two neutrally repulsive solid plates are reported. The spatial profiles of polymer velocity and deformation along the course of such a laminar extensional flow have been carefully analyzed. The results appear consistent with experimental observations in literature. In the entrance and exit regions, a linear dependence of chain extension upon the excess velocity has been observed. Moreover, an annexed shear flow and a molecular-dispersion effect are found. The results demonstrate a useful strategy of this approach to study polymer flows and bring new insights into the non-Newtonian-fluid behaviors of bulk polymers in capillary rheometers and micro-fluidic devices.