Polymer chain coils with entanglement is a crucial scale of structures in polymer materials since their relaxation times are matching practical processing times. Based on the phenomenological model of polymer chain coils and a new finite element approach, we have worked out a computer software including solver, pre and post processing modules, and developed a digital analysis technology for the morphology of polymer chain coils in flow fields (DAMPC). Using this technology we may simulate the morphology development of chain coils in various flow fields, such as simple shear flow, elongational flow, and any complex flow at transient or steady state. The applications done up to now show that the software predictions are comparable with experimental results.

The kinetics of melt intercalation of poly(propylene)/montmorillonite nanocomposites was studied by a rheological approach. The experimental sample was elaborately prepared to investigate the whole intercalating process. The intercalation process was demonstrated by the changes of the viscoelastic response with annealing time. The development of the relative volume fraction of intercalated tactoids was obtained from the rheological characterization. The apparent diffusivities was etermined and the activation energy of melt intercalation was found to be about 80

Conceptually, an imagined conformation ellipsoid is supposed to represent the shape of a polymer chain for polymer melts in flow fields and to be equivalent to the volume element in mathematical sense in continuum mechanics. A power law dependence of shear modulus of polymer melts on detC, referred to as envelope volume, is proposed. Based on those assumptions and the non-linear relation of shear modulus, a phenomenological viscoelastic model is derived. The model is tested in simple shear flow, simple elongational flow, oscillatory shear flow, and relaxation process after flow suddenly stopped. The results show that the model works well to predict the change of internal structure and viscoelastic performance of polymer melts in flow fields.

A coalescence mechanism for the coarsening behavior of polymer blends during a quiescent annealing process is proposed. It suggests that the distribution state of dispersed particles in a matrix obeys a nearest-neighbor distribution function in multibody systems. Both drainage and merge stages are included in the coalescence. All existing forces, such as thermal agitation, van der Waals attraction, interfacial tension, and viscous resistance, take control of the coarsening process. A dynamic equation is used to compute the evolution of dispersed particles. An experimental investigation has been made with the time-resolved light scattering measurement of a polystyrene/ poly(methyl methacrylate) blend during an annealing process. The model predictions are in good agreement with our experiment and other authors' work. The relative effects of system parameters such as volume fraction, interfacial tension, and viscosity are also discussed.