Our paper “PolySTRAND model of flow-induced nucleation in polymers” has now been published in Physical Review Letters. The work is a collaboration between the Universities of Leeds, Nottingham and Lincoln.

PolySTRAND Model of Flow-Induced Nucleation in Polymers

Daniel J. Read, Claire McIlroy, Chinmay Das, Oliver G. Harlen, and Richard S. Graham Phys. Rev. Lett. 124, 147802 – Published 10 April 2020

Abstract: We develop a thermodynamic continuum-level model, polySTRAND, for flow-induced nucleation in polymers suitable for use in computational process modeling. The model’s molecular origins ensure that it accounts properly for flow and nucleation dynamics of polydisperse systems and can be extended to include effects of exhaustion of highly deformed chains and nucleus roughness. It captures variations with the key processing parameters, flow rate, temperature, and molecular weight distribution. Under strong flow, long chains are over-represented within the nucleus, leading to superexponential nucleation rate growth with shear rate as seen in experiments.