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Rheological Behaviors of Polymers with Nanoparticles Tethered at Each End

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Abstract

The polymer with nanoparticles tethered at each end is a unique model for unraveling the effect of chain ends on the polymer dynamics. We investigated the rheological behavior of this kind of polymer by using nonequilibrium molecular dynamics simulation. The effect of polymer lengths and nanoparticle radii on the complex moduli and viscosity was examined. The dependence of complex moduli on the frequency becomes less pronounced as the polymer is short or the nanoparticle is large. The shear thinning behavior was revealed for these systems, and the scaling exponent of complex viscosity with respect to the frequency was found to change from −1/2 to −3/4 as the polymer shortens or the nanoparticle enlarges. The rheological behavior was further explained by analyzing the mean square distance of nanoparticles. The simulation results were compared with the existing experimental finding, showing an agreement. The work provides information for understanding the chain end effect on polymer rheology.

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Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 21774032 and 51833003) and Shanghai Scientific and Technological Innovation Projects (No. 22ZR1417500).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Shanghai Key Laboratory of Advanced Polymeric Materials, Key Laboratory for Ultrafine Materials of Ministry of Education, School of Materials Science and Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, 200237, China

    Song-Qi Zhang, Wen-Qing Wang, Jia-Ping Lin & Li-Quan Wang

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  1. Song-Qi Zhang
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  2. Wen-Qing Wang
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  3. Jia-Ping Lin
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  4. Li-Quan Wang
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Correspondence to Jia-Ping Lin or Li-Quan Wang.

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Zhang, SQ., Wang, WQ., Lin, JP. et al. Rheological Behaviors of Polymers with Nanoparticles Tethered at Each End. Chin J Polym Sci 42, 400–406 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10118-023-3052-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10118-023-3052-x

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