March 22, 2000, 4.00 pm
Lecture Theatre OF/B9 Oddfellows Hall (Material Science)
Molecular Pom-poms: The flow of branched polymer melts
Dr. Oliver Harlen, Dept. of Applied
Mathematics, University
of Leeds
Molten polymers have highly viscoelastic flow properties resulting from
interactions between the highly flexible macromolecules that make up the
fluid. A critical factor in determining the flow behaviour is the degree of
branching within the molecular chain. For example two different
polyethylenes with the similar molecular weights, but different branching
structures, behave very differently when forced into a sudden contraction.
In this seminar I will discuss a constitutive model for a melt of simple
branched molecules, "pom-poms", that attempts to capture the underlying
physics at the molecular level, but is still simple enough to be
incorporated into a CFD code.
Back to the Seminar Homepage
For further info contact either Matthias
Heil (mheil@ma.man.ac.uk),
Mark Muldoon
(M.Muldoon@umist.ac.uk)or the seminar secretary (Tel. 0161 275 5800).
Page last modified: Februrary 8, 2000
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