Bridging scales in polymer physics and processing

Understanding both the flow behavior of polymers during processing and the end-use properties of finished plastic products from a molecular picture of the constituent polymers has been a long-standing dream in polymer enginee ring and science. It is the goal of our work in the Polymer Physics Group t o reduce the considerable discrepancy between dream and reality. Close inte raction between theory and experiment is of crucial importance for further progress towards achieving this goal. Furthermore, the bridging of the gaps between chemical polymer structure, viscoelastic flow behavior, and non-ho mogeneous anisotropic properties in the solid state requires massive use of computer simulations. The Polymer Physics Group thus comprises three stron gly interwoven branches, theory - experiment - simulation, as shown in this article.