TY - Generic T1 - Blob-spring model for the dynamics of ring polymer in obstacle environment T2 - XVTH International Congress on Rheology - the Society of Rheology 80th Annual Meeting, Pts 1 and 2 Y1 - 2008 A1 - Lele, Ashish K. A1 - Iyer, Balaji V. S. A1 - Juvekar, Vinay A. ED - Co, A. ED - Leal, L. G. ED - Colby, R. H. ED - Giacomin, A. J. KW - fractal polymer dynamics KW - linear viscoelasticity KW - ring polymer dynamics AB -

The dynamical behavior of cyclic macromolecules in a fixed obstacle (FO) environment is very different than the behavior of linear chains in the same topological environment; while the latter relax by a snake-like reptational motion from their chain ends(1) the former can relax only by contour length fluctuations since they are endless.(2) Duke, Obukhov and Rubinstein proposed a scaling model (the DOR model) to interpret the dynamical scaling exponents shown by Monte Carlo simulations of rings in a FO environment.(2) We present a model (blob-spring model) to describe the dynamics of flexible and non-concatenated ring polymer in FO environment based on a theoretical formulation developed for the dynamics of an unentangled fractal polymer.(3) We argue that the perpetual evolution of ring perimeter by the motion of contour segments results in an extra frictional load. Our model predicts self-similar dynamics with scaling exponents for the molecular weight dependence of diffusion coefficient and relaxation times that are in agreement with the scaling model proposed by Obukhov et al.(2).

JF - XVTH International Congress on Rheology - the Society of Rheology 80th Annual Meeting, Pts 1 and 2 T3 - AIP CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS PB - Soc Rheol CY - 2 Huntington Quadrangle, STE 1no1, Melville, NY 11747-4501 USA VL - 1027 SN - 978-0-7354-0549-3 N1 - 15th International Congress on Rheology/80th Annual Meeting of the Society-of-Rheology, Monterey, CA, AUG 03-08, 2008 ER -