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Polymers
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Polymer Rheology: Progress and Prospects
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Polymer Rheology: Progress and Prospects

A special issue of Polymers (ISSN 2073-4360). This special issue belongs to the section "Polymer Physics and Theory".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (25 March 2025) | Viewed by 2525

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Shaocong Dai

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Interests: suspension rheology; elongational flows of non-colloidal suspensions; flow properties; anisotropic thermal conductivity in sheared polypropylene; polymer rheology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Polymers are some of the most important materials in modern-day technology and daily life. Their complex rheological properties, such as their melt viscosity, flow properties, viscoelasticity, temperature dependence, glass transition temperature, and aging behavior, should be considered when using or producing polymeric materials. Various testing and analytical methods can optimize the rheological properties of polymers until they meet all application requirements.

Previously, we experimentally and theoretically investigated the effect of particle roughness on suspension rheology, the elongational flows of non-colloidal suspensions, viscometric functions for non-colloidal sphere suspensions, bread dough rheology and the effect of pre-test deformation, and anisotropic thermal conductivity in sheared polypropylene, among other topics.

Based on these results, this Special Issue aims to provide an academic exchange platform for research on polymer rheology. 

Dr. Shaocong Dai
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Polymers is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • melt viscosity
  • suspension rheology
  • elongational flows of non-colloidal suspensions
  • viscometric functions
  • flow properties
  • viscoelasticity
  • temperature dependence
  • anisotropic thermal conductivity in sheared polypropylene
  • glass transition temperature
  • polymer rheology

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

22 pages, 6623 KiB  
Article
Effect of Elasticity on Heat and Mass Transfer of Highly Viscous Non-Newtonian Fluids Flow in Circular Pipes
by Xuesong Wang, Xiaoyi Qiu, Xincheng Zhang, Ling Zhao and Zhenhao Xi
Polymers 2025, 17(10), 1393; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym17101393 - 19 May 2025
Viewed by 259
Abstract
The viscoelasticity of fluids have a significant impact on the process of heat and mass transfer, which directly affects the efficiency and quality, especially for highly viscous functional polymer materials. In this work, the effect of elasticity on hydrodynamic behavior of pipe flow [...] Read more.
The viscoelasticity of fluids have a significant impact on the process of heat and mass transfer, which directly affects the efficiency and quality, especially for highly viscous functional polymer materials. In this work, the effect of elasticity on hydrodynamic behavior of pipe flow for highly viscous non-Newtonian fluids was studied using viscoelastic polyolefin elastomer (POE). Two constitutive rheological equations, the Cross model and Wagner model, were applied to describe the rheological behavior of typical POE melts, which have been embedded with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation of the laminar pipe flow through the user-defined function (UDF) method. The influence of both viscosity and elasticity of a polymer melt on the flow mixing and heat transfer behavior has been systematically studied. The results show that the elastic effect makes a relative larger velocity gradient in the radial direction and the thicker boundary layer near pipe wall under the same feed flow rate. That leads to the higher pressure drop and more complex residence time distribution with the longer residence time near the wall but shorter residence time in the center. Under the same conditionals, the pipeline pressure drop of the viscoelastic fluid is several times or even tens of times greater than that of the viscous fluid. When the inlet velocity increases from 0.0001 m/s to 0.01 m/s, the difference in boundary layer thickness between the viscoelastic fluid and viscous fluid increases from 3% to 12%. Similarly, the radial temperature gradient of viscoelastic fluids is also relatively high. When the inlet velocity is 0.0001 m/s, the radial temperature difference of the viscoelastic fluid is about 40% higher than that of viscous fluid. Besides that, the influence of elasticity deteriorates the mixing effect of the SK type static mixer on the laminar pipe flow of highly viscous non-Newtonian fluids. Correspondingly, the accuracy of the simulation results was verified by comparing the pressure drop data from pipeline hydrodynamic experiments. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polymer Rheology: Progress and Prospects)
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18 pages, 2186 KiB  
Article
Enhancing the Quality of Polypropylene Recyclates: Predictive Modelling of the Melt Flow Rate and Shear Viscosity
by Lukas Seifert, Lisa Leuchtenberger-Engel and Christian Hopmann
Polymers 2024, 16(16), 2326; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym16162326 - 16 Aug 2024
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1612
Abstract
The extensive use of polypropylene (PP) in various industries has heightened interest in developing efficient methods for recycling and optimising its mixtures. This study focuses on formulating predictive models for the Melt Flow Rate (MFR) and shear viscosity of PP blends. The investigation [...] Read more.
The extensive use of polypropylene (PP) in various industries has heightened interest in developing efficient methods for recycling and optimising its mixtures. This study focuses on formulating predictive models for the Melt Flow Rate (MFR) and shear viscosity of PP blends. The investigation involved characterising various grades, including virgin homopolymers, copolymers, and post-consumer recyclates, in accordance with ISO 1133 standards. The research examined both binary and ternary blends, utilising traditional mixing rules and symbolic regression to predict rheological properties. High accuracy was achieved with the Arrhenius and Cragoe models, attaining R2 values over 0.99. Symbolic regression further enhanced these models, offering significant improvements. To mitigate overfitting, empirical noise and variable swapping were introduced, increasing the models’ robustness and generalisability. The results demonstrated that the developed models could reliably predict MFR and shear viscosity, providing a valuable tool for improving the quality and consistency of PP mixtures. These advancements support the development of recycling technologies and sustainable practices in the polymer industry by optimising processing and enhancing the use of recycled materials. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polymer Rheology: Progress and Prospects)
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