Macroscopic analogue to entangled polymers
Goemez LRR, Garciea NA, Pöschel T (2023)
Publication Type: Journal article
Publication year: 2023
Journal
DOI: 10.1039/d3sm00148b
Abstract
The entangled structure of polymeric materials is often described as resembling a bowl of spaghetti, swarms of earthworms, or snakes. These analogies not only illustrate the concept, but form the foundation of polymer physics. However, the similarity between these macroscopic, athermal systems and polymers in terms of topology remains uncertain. To better understand this relationship, we conducted an experiment using X-ray tomography to study the structure of arrays of linear rubber bands. We found that, similar to linear polymers, the average number of entanglements increases linearly with the length of the ribbons. Additionally, we observed that entanglements are less frequent near the surface of the container, where there are also more ends, similar to what has been seen in trapped polymers. These findings provide the first experimental evidence supporting the visualization of polymer structures using macroscopic, athermal analogues, confirming the initial intuitive insights of the pioneers of polymer physics.
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Argentina (AR)How to cite
APA:
Goemez, L.R.R., Garciea, N.A., & Pöschel, T. (2023). Macroscopic analogue to entangled polymers. Soft Matter. https://doi.org/10.1039/d3sm00148b
MLA:
Goemez, Leopoldo R. R., Nicolaes A. Garciea, and Thorsten Pöschel. "Macroscopic analogue to entangled polymers." Soft Matter (2023).
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