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Shear-Enhanced Structure and Dynamics in Semidilute Polymer Solutions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 February 2011

P. K. Dixon
Affiliation:
Exxon Research and Engineering Co., Annandale, NJ 08801.
D. J. Pine
Affiliation:
Exxon Research and Engineering Co., Annandale, NJ 08801.
X.-L. Wu
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260.
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Abstract

We present elastic light scattering measurements of a semidilute polymer solution under shear flow. The basic symmetries observed in the shear-enhanced structure factor agree with the predictions of recently proposed theoretical models. The enhancement appears to be due to a coupling between the polymer concentration and shear flow through the concentration-dependent viscosity and normal stress coefficients. We also found an unexpected long wavelength peak in the shear-enhanced structure factor. Transient scattering measurements upon the cessation of shear have revealed the origin of this peak. The polymer solution demonstrates two modes of relaxation for concentration fluctuations in equilibrium due to a coupling between collective diffusion and stress relaxation. The transient scattering measurements indicate that the mechanism that couples the concentration fluctuations to the shear flow, and thereby enhances concentration fluctuations, selectively enhances only the slower of the two equilibrium modes. This selective enhancement generates the long wavelength peak in the shear-enhanced structure.

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Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1992

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