STRUCTURE AND RHEOLOGY OF POLYMERS WITH ARBITRARY FLEXIBILITY - A NUMERICAL APPROACH

A numerical approach, based on the configurational distribution functi on of a polymer chain in flow, has been used to calculate the zero-she ar rheological properties. Starting from a bead-spring representation of the chain, the stiffness is introduced by repulsive springs between next nearest neighbors. The connection to models based on the bending equation and their limitation is discussed. To obtain a correct model of a semiflexible chain, an inhomogeneous spring constant has to be u sed. Calculations have been carried out for the free draining case, an d a simple relation between the intrinsic viscosity, the translational diffusion coefficient and the persistence length for arbitrary solven t conditions is proposed. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.