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Branched polymers tend to twist and entwine, and that tangling has caused headaches in polymer processing for years. Now, a research team in Europe has developed a mathematical model that can predict the flow properties of molten branched polymers, which will help polymer scientists to adapt their syntheses and meet processing needs.
Lauren K. Wolf writes for Chemical & Engineering News that “the feat is similar to predicting the outcome of a tug-of-war game with a highly branched piece of rope.”
Simon Hadlington reports for Chemistry World:
‘We made two theoretical breakthroughs,’ says coauthor Tom McLeish, from the University of Durham, UK. ‘One that allowed us to calculate the disentanglement times of deep segments in complex trees, then another that allowed us to work out how the polymer stretch was being transmitted through the molecules.’Previously, polymer scientists could only simulate the movements of “clean” simple polymers, which really didn’t help with “dirty” commercial polymers with various sizes, shapes, and kinds of branching.
The European team tested its new model — which accounts for about a thousand different topologies and a range of sizes — on low-density polyethylene. LDPE contains a mixture of branched polymers that vary widely with regard to size and shape. It is used for myriad products including plastic bag.
Hadlington writes that “working with industrial polymer chemists from Dow Benelux and LyondellBassell, the team showed that the viscoelastic properties of the melt of a given type of LDPE could be predicted with unprecedented accuracy. “
Researchers not connected with the new work praised the model. Wolf reports:
The researchers’ method ‘provides a major step toward finally unraveling the LDPE tangle,’ says Ronald G. Larson, a chemical engineer at the University of Michigan, in a commentary associated with the team’s report. But whether it can predict LDPE properties such as diffusion and adhesion remains to be seen, he adds.
The model is ready for industrial companies to start calculating the dynamics of branched polymer melts now, and the researchers are curious to see what industry will do with it. McLeish told Wolf that “‘it will be very exciting’… to watch whether the industry can use this predictive tool to speed up the development of new materials, such as biopolymers.”
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