Individual molecular dynamics of an entangled polyethylene melt undergoing steady shear flow: Steady-state and transient dynamics

Abstract

The startup and steady shear flow properties of an entangled, monodisperse polyethylene liquid (C1000H2002) were investigated via virtual experimentation using nonequilibrium molecular dynamics. The simulations revealed a multifaceted dynamical response of the liquid to the imposed flow field in which entanglement loss leading to individual molecular rotation plays a dominant role in dictating the bulk rheological response at intermediate and high shear rates. Under steady shear conditions, four regimes of flow behavior were evident. In the linear viscoelastic regime (γ˙ < τd-1), orientation of the reptation tube network dictates the rheological response. Within the second regime (τd-1 < γ˙ < τR-1 ), the tube segments begin to stretch mildly and the molecular entanglement network begins to relax as flow strength increases; however, the dominant relaxation mechanism in this region remains the orientation of the tube segments. In the third regime (τR-1 < γ˙ < τe-1), molecular disentangling accelerates and tube stretching dominates the response. Additionally, the rotation of molecules become a significant source of the overall dynamic response. In the fourth regime (γ˙ > τe-1), the entanglement network deteriorates such that some molecules become almost completely unraveled, and molecular tumbling becomes the dominant relaxation mechanism. The comparison of transient shear viscosity, η+, with the dynamic responses of key variables of the tube model, including the tube segmental orientation, S, and tube stretch, λ, revealed that the stress overshoot and undershoot in steady shear flow of entangled liquids are essentially originated and dynamically controlled by the Sxy component of the tube orientation tensor, rather than the tube stretch, over a wide range of flow strengths.