Structural and Dynamical Characteristics of Short-Chain Branched Ring Polymer Melts at Interface under Shear Flow

We present a detailed analysis of the interfacial chain structure and dynamics of confined polymer melt systems under shear over a wide range of flow strengths using atomistic nonequilibrium molecular dynamics simulations, paying particular attention to the rheological influence of the closed-loop ring geometry and short-chain branching. We analyzed the interfacial slip, characteristic molecular mechanisms, and deformed chain conformations in response to the applied flow for linear, ring, short-chain branched (SCB) linear, and SCB ring polyethylene melts. The ring topology generally enlarges the interfacial chain dimension along the neutral direction, enhancing the dynamic friction of interfacial chains moving against the wall in the flow direction. This leads to a relatively smaller degree of slip (ds) for the ring-shaped polymers compared with their linear analogues. Furthermore, short-chain branching generally resulted in more compact and less deformed chain structures via the intrinsically fast random motions of the short branches. The short branches tend to be oriented more perpendicular (i.e., aligned in the neutral direction) than parallel to the backbone, which is mostly aligned in the flow direction, thereby enhancing the dynamic wall friction of the moving interfacial chains toward the flow direction. These features afford a relatively lower ds and less variation in ds in the weak-to-intermediate flow regimes. Accordingly, the interfacial SCB ring system displayed the lowest ds among the studied polymer systems throughout these regimes owing to the synergetic effects of ring geometry and short-chain branching. On the contrary, the structural disturbance exerted by the highly mobile short branches promotes the detachment of interfacial chains from the wall at strong flow fields, which results in steeper increasing behavior of the interfacial slip for the SCB polymers in the strong flow regime compared to the pure linear and ring polymers.