Rheological Properties of Ring Polymers and Their Derivatives

Abstract

Ring polymers are one of the model polymers to understand the relationship between molecular architecture and the dynamics of polymers. This review summarizes the recent rheological studies on pure ring polymers, ring/linear polymer blends, and ring polymer derivatives. Pure ring polymers exhibit different linear and nonlinear rheological properties from linear polymers owing to the absence of chain ends. The presence of linear chains in ring polymers sensitively influences the rheological properties due to the occurrence of spontaneous intermolecular ring/linear threading. This effect becomes significant when a ring and linear chains are connected in a molecule for tadpole-shaped and dumbbell-shaped polymers.