Relating the Microscopic and Macroscopic Response of a Polymeric Fluid in a Shearing Flow

Hazen P. Babcock; Douglas E. Smith; Joe S. Hur; Eric S. G. Shaqfeh; Steven Chu

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.85.2018

Relating the Microscopic and Macroscopic Response of a Polymeric Fluid in a Shearing Flow

Hazen P. Babcock, Douglas E. Smith, Joe S. Hur, Eric S. G. Shaqfeh, and Steven Chu

Phys. Rev. Lett. 85, 2018 – Published 28 August 2000

Abstract

The microscopic and macroscopic response of a polymer solution in start-up shear flow was investigated using fluorescence microscopy of single molecules, bulk viscosity measurements, and Brownian dynamics simulations. An overshoot in viscosity was observed upon flow inception and understood via the observed molecular extension and by simulation findings. Increasing the polymer concentration up to six times the overlap concentration ( $C^{*}$ ) has no effect on the character of the dynamics of individual molecules.

Received 9 March 2000

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.85.2018

Authors & Affiliations

Hazen P. Babcock¹, Douglas E. Smith¹, Joe S. Hur², Eric S. G. Shaqfeh², and Steven Chu¹

¹Departments of Physics and Applied Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305
²Department of Chemical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305