(639b) Flow-Induced Configuration Microphase Separation and Crystallization of Entangled Polyethylene Under Uniaxial Extensional Flows
AIChE Annual Meeting
2022
2022 Annual Meeting
Materials Engineering and Sciences Division
Polymer Viscoelasticity: Mechanics, Processing, and Rheology II
Thursday, November 17, 2022 - 1:00pm to 1:15pm
In this work, we studied the same entangled PE melt under uniaxial extensional flow (UEF) via NEMD simulations and directly compared the flow response of C1000H2002 under PEF and UEF at similar extension rates (expressed in terms of dimensionless Rouse Deborah number, De.) These simulations revealed that under UEF, the entangled melts undergo a qualitatively similar coil-stretch transition and configurational microphase separation, within the roughly same range of flow strength as that in PEF. Furthermore, the melt experienced flow-induced crystallization (FIC) at De > 9 and a temperature of 450 K, fully 50 K above the quiescent melting point. The onset of FIC was slightly lower than that observed for PEF. Overall, the comparison of PEF and UEF simulations suggests that entangled melts exhibit qualitatively similar responses to these extensional flows. This is especially important from a simulation perspective, as the computational costs of UEF simulations for long polymer chains are significantly higher than PEF simulations.