We have measured the linear rheology of critically purified ring polyisoprenes, polystyrenes and polyethyleneoxides of different molar masses. The ratio of the zero-shear viscosities of linear polymer melts η0,linear to their ring counterparts η0,ring at isofrictional conditions is discussed as function of the number of entanglements Z. In the unentangled regime η0,linear/η0,ring is virtually constant, consistent with the earlier data, atomistic simulations, and the theoretical expectation η0,linear/η0,ring=2. In the entanglement regime, the Z-dependence of rings viscosity is much weaker than that of linear polymers, in qualitative agreement with predictions from scaling theory and simulations. The power-law extracted from the available experimental data in the rather limited range 1

We combine state-of-the-art synthetic, chromatographic, rheological, and modeling techniques in order to address the role of architectural polydispersity in the rheology of model branched polymers. This synergy is shown to be imperative in the field and leads to several important results. Even the best available synthesis is prone to “contamination” by side-products. The exact targeted macromolecular structure can be analyzed experimentally and statistically and eventually fractionated. Temperature-gradient interaction chromatography proves to be an indispensible tool in this process. All techniques are sensitive to the various macromolecular structures, but in different ways. In particular, the presence of side-products may or may not influence the linear rheology, due to competing contributions of the different relaxation processes involved, reflecting different structures at different fractions. Hence, combination of all these techniques is the key for fully decoding the architectural composition of branched polymers and its influence on rheology.

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We report the synthesis and characterization by temperature gradient interaction chromatography (TGIC) and rheometry of a symmetric H-shaped polybutadiene (PBd) that we call “HA20B40”, and of a symmetric star-shaped synthetic precursor of HA20B40, and the use of these characterization data to test and validate advanced tube models (the hierarchical and, to a lesser extent, the BOB models) for long-chain branched polymers. Furthermore, by deliberately adding additional well-characterized linear and star-branched polymers into HA20B40, we mimic the effect of impurities in the sample to test the ability of the hierarchical model to account for the effect of similar such impurities, which are detected by TGIC. Our modeling predictions for HA20B40 and its blends with star and linear polymers show very good agreement with measured rheological data, indicating that the modeling validation is successful for the symmetric H-shaped polymers. We then test the hierarchical model further using literature data for symmetric H-PBds, for which the TGIC and experimental rheology data were published. We find that as long as the polymer composition is accurately determined, the hierarchical model can calculate the rheological behavior accurately. The theory can therefore be used to help to identify the composition or impurities, which are almost always present at low levels at least in such topologically complex samples.

A phase diagram was constructed for a polystyrene-block-polyisoprene (PS-b-PI, M(W) = 32 700, f(PI) = 0.670) in thin films on Si wafer as a function of film thickness over the range of 150-2410 nm (7-107L(0) (L(0): domain spacing)). The PS-b-PI exhibits a variety of ordered phases from hexagonally perforated lamellar (HPL) via double gyroid (DG) to hexagonally packed cylinder (HEX) before going to the disordered (DIS) phase upon heating. The morphology of the PS-b-PI in thin film was investigated by grazing incidence small-angle X-ray scattering, transmission electron microscopy, and transmission electron microtomography. In thin film, the phase transition temperature is difficult to be determined unequivocally with in situ heating processes since the phase transition is slow and two phases coexist over a wide temperature range. Therefore, in an effort to find an "equilibrium" phase, we determined the long-term stable phase formed after cooling the film from the DIS phase to a target temperature and annealing for 24 h at the temperature. The temperature windows of stable ordered phases are strongly influenced by the film thickness. As the film thickness decreases, the temperature window of layer-like structures such as HPL and HEX becomes wider, whereas that of the DG stable region decreases. For the films thinner than 160 nm (8L(0)), only the HPL phase was found. In the films exhibiting DG phase, a perforated layer structure at the free surface was found, which gradually converts to the internal DG structure. The relief of interfacial tension by preferential wetting appears to play an important role in controlling the morphology in very thin films.