Rheological observation of glassy dynamics of dilute polymer solutions near the coil-stretch transition in elongational flows

T. Sridhar, D. A. Nguyen, R. Prabhakar, J. Ravi Prakash*

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    20 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    It has long been conjectured that the macroscopic dynamics of dilute polymer solutions may exhibit a glasslike slowdown caused by ergodicity breaking, in the vicinity of the coil-stretch transition in elongational flows. We report experimental observations using a filament stretching rheometer that confirm the existence of such glassy states. It is observed that different time-dependent elongational strain-rate profiles lead to a pronounced history dependence and aging effects within a narrow range of strain rates. The results have a direct bearing on the analysis and design of processes employing dilute polymer solutions, such as ink-jet printing, surface coating, and turbulent-drag reduction.

    Original languageEnglish
    Article number167801
    JournalPhysical Review Letters
    Volume98
    Issue number16
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 20 Apr 2007

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