Topology and Dynamics of Ring Polymers
A special issue of Polymers (ISSN 2073-4360). This special issue belongs to the section "Polymer Physics and Theory".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 September 2021) | Viewed by 3393
Special Issue Editors
Interests: molecular modeling; molecular simulations; polymer physics; rheology, statistical mechanics
Interests: equilibrium thermodynamics; statistical thermodynamics; non-equilibrium thermodynamics; statistical mechanics; physical and chemical processes; statistical mechanics of polymers; polymer mechanics and physics; nanomaterials; dynamics of polymeric liquids; polymer rheology; fluid mechanics; polymer physics
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Special Issue Information
Dear Colleague,
Nonconcatenated ring polymers, i.e., macromolecules with linked chain ends, constitute a unique class of macromolecular materials to which established molecular mechanisms that are based on the motion of free chain ends, such as reptation through an effective confining tube, contour length fluctuations, and constraint release, do not directly apply; thus, we are in need of new concepts and theories for understanding their dynamics, conformation, and flow properties. Intense research work over the years has documented that ring polymers exhibit fascinating dynamic and viscoelastic properties that are quite often exceptionally different from those of their linear analogues and variants thereof (e.g., branched, H-shaped, star, comb). For example, we know today that ring polymers flow faster and assume more compact structures than linear counterparts, they do not exhibit the well-known entanglement plateau, their extensional viscosity dramatically increases under uniaxial stretching at low stretching rates, and their response to nonlinear shear and extensional flows is sensitive to small levels of linear contamination. It is also true that due to these distinctive properties, ring polymers find extended uses in several applications in modern areas of biotechnology, biology, and materials science. Understanding the behavior of ring polymers under flow conditions, in particular, can open a new route in our efforts to exploit their unique viscoelastic properties in order to design more efficient new materials and structures with controlled and highly tunable properties.
This Special Issue of Polymers invites contributions addressing all aspects of ring polymer rheology using experiments or theory or simulation. Topics may include the investigation of flow dynamics of DNA rings, measurements of the response of synthetic ring polymer melts or their blends with linear counterparts under shear or extensional flows, nonequilibrium simulations of ring polymer melts and solutions, new theoretical approaches, and the linear and nonlinear rheology of ring polymer nanocomposites. The above is only an indicative and by no means exhaustive list; on the contrary, any original work or review article on the rheology of ring polymers will be highly welcome!
Dr. Dimitrios Tsalikis
Dr. Pavlos Stephanou
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- Ring polymer melts, solutions, blends, nanocomposites
- Circular DNA
- Nonlinear rheology, shear rheology, extensional rheology
- Simulations (molecular, coarse-grained, Brownian, slip-link models)
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