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Updated: May 2, 2026

Fabrication of Large-area Free-standing Ultrathin Polymer Films
Published on: June 3, 2015
Liquid filament instability due to stretch-induced phase separation in polymer solutions: Liquid filament instability
V G Kulichikhin1, Al Ya Malkin, Al V Semakov
1Laboratory of polymer rheology, Institute of Petrochemical Synthesis, Russian Academy of Sciences, 29 Leninkii prospect, 119991, Moscow, Russian Federation.
Abstract:
The instability in a jet of a viscoelastic semidilute entangled polymer solution under high stretching is discussed. Initially the jet is stable due to solution elasticity stopping the fluctuation growth. The modeling shows that a jet stretching results in a radial gradient in the polymer distribution: the polymer is concentrated in the jet centre, whereas the solvent is remaining near the surface. This viscous liquid shell demonstrates Raleigh-type instability resulting in the formation of individual droplets on the oriented filament. All process stages were observed experimentally.
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