Macromolecules, Vol.50, No.20, 8279-8289, 2017
Equilibrium Dynamics and Shear Rheology of Semiflexible Polymers in Solution
We study the structure and dynamics of semi dilute solutions Of semiflexible polymers at rest and under shear using hybrid molecular dynamics simulations that take hydro, dynamic interactions into account. We show that the polymer center-of-mass diffusion coefficient significantly decreases with increasing chain stiffness at fixed monomer density. The zero shear viscosity :Shows a corresponding increase due to, the intermolecular interactions of stiffer chains. We apply steady shear flow to, the polymer solutions and show that at high shear rates the flow properties Become almost independent of polymer stiffness. We characterize the polymer conformations under Shear and find that in this regime polymers ate elongated and aligned along the flow direction, but semiflexible polymers surprisingly forth an increased number of hairpin-like conformations due to increased tumbling.