The molecular dynamics and rheology of polymer melts near the flat surface

Kirk, J. (2018) The molecular dynamics and rheology of polymer melts near the flat surface. PhD thesis, University of Reading. doi: 10.48683/1926.00083957

Abstract/Summary

This thesis is concerned with the molecular dynamics and rheology of polymer melts in the vicinity of a hard flat surface. One initial motivation is the desire to better understand the phenomenon of slip between flowing molten polymer and a bounding solid wall. Alternation between sticking and slipping boundary conditions is suspected to be the cause of 'spurt flow', widely observed in polymer extrusion. A related aim is to investigate the nature of chain entanglements at surfaces, which also has important consequences for the material properties of nano-composites and thin films. In addition more general effects of confinement are considered. The primary method of investigation is observation, using Molecular Dynamics (MD) computer simulations of relevant systems. Single-chain models are fitted to the 'fundamental' multi-chain MD simulations, and the simplifying assumptions of this coarse-graining are then examined.

Item Type	Thesis (PhD)
URI	https://centaur.reading.ac.uk/id/eprint/83957
Identification Number/DOI	10.48683/1926.00083957
Divisions	Science > School of Mathematical, Physical and Computational Sciences
Download/View statistics	View download statistics for this item