Flow Behavior of Chain and Star Polymers and Their Mixtures

2018

Star-shaped polymers show a continuous change of properties from flexible linear chains to soft colloids, as the number of arms is increased. To investigate the effect of macromolecular architecture on the flow properties, we employ computer simulations of single chain and star polymers as well as of their mixtures under Poiseuille flow. Hydrodynamic interactions are incorporated through the multi-particle collision dynamics (MPCD) technique, while a bead-spring model is used to describe the polymers. For the ultradilute systems at rest, the polymers are distributed uniformly in the slit channel, with a weak dependence on their number of arms. Once flow is applied, however, we find that the…