Spring-Bead Model Rouse Theory

In a real situation, the motion of the segments of a chain relative to the molecules of the solvent environment will exert a force in the liquid, and as a consequence the velocity distribution of the liquid medium in the vicinity of the moving segments will be altered. This effect, in turn, will affect the motion of the segments of the chain. To simplify the problem, the so-called free-draining approximation is often used. This approximation assumes that hydrodynamic interactions are negligible so that the velocity of the liquid medium is unaffected by the moving polymer molecules. This assumption was used in the model developed by Rouse (5) to describe the dynamics of polymers in dilute solutions. 

Therefore the force exerted on the nth submolecule from the two neighbors is given by 

The work done by the driving force is dissipated by the friction energy of the moving submolecule, represented by a bead, in the viscous medium, so that 

The largest relaxation time (p = 1) is the characteristic time of the rotation of the whole chain. The value of this quantity is given by 

The relaxation time associated with the p mode (p 1) is related to the largest relaxation time by the expression Xp = x /p. Thus the second mode, i2 = Xr/4, describes changes over distances of one-half the molecule, and so forth. Equation (11.13) suggests that is strongly dependent on molecular weight and temperature. The dependence of this latter parameter on temperature arises from the factor l/T and, especially, the enhancement caused in the molecular mobility (1 / o) by increase in temperature. Accordingly, the Rouse theory is in qualitative agreement with the experimental results. 

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We refer to this model as the bead-spring model and to its theoretical development as the Rouse theory, although Rouse, Bueche, and Zimm have all been associated with its development. 

The Rouse model (Rouse, 1953) extends these theories to multiple beads and springs (or multiple-relaxation modes). Here the expression for the viscosity becomes... 

The most studied relaxation processes from the point of view of molecular theories are those governing relaxation function, G,(t), in equation [7.2.4]. According to the Rouse theory, a macromolecule is modeled by a bead-spring chain. The beads are the centers of hydrodynamic interaction of a molecule with a solvent while the springs model elastic linkage between the beads. The polymer macromolecule is subdivided into a number of equal segments (submolecules or subchains) within which the equilibrium is supposed to be achieved thus the model does not permit to describe small-scale motions that are smaller in size than the statistical segment. Maximal relaxation time in a spectrum is expressed in terms of macroscopic parameters of the system, which can be easily measured ... 

Another very important analytically solvable case is the harmonic oscillator. This term is used for a mechanical system in which potential energy depends quadratically on displacement from the equilibrium position. The harmonic oscillator is very important, as it is an interacting system (i.e., a system with nonzero potential energy), which admits an analytical solution. A diatomic molecule, linked by a chemical bond with potential energy described by Eq. (2), is a typical example that is reasonably well described by the harmonic oscillator model. A chain with harmonic potentials along its bonds (bead-spring model), often invoked in polymer theories such as the Rouse theory of viscoelasticity, can be described as a set of coupled harmonic oscillators. 

First approaches at modeling the viscoelasticity of polymer solutions on the basis of a molecular theory can be traced back to Rouse [33], who derived the so-called bead-spring model for flexible coiled polymers. It is assumed that the macromolecules can be treated as threads consisting of N beads freely jointed by (N-l) springs. Furthermore, it is considered that the solution is ideally dilute, so that intermolecular interactions can be neglected. 

This latter model was employed by Rouse (27) and by Bueche (28) in the calculation of viscoelasticity and is sometimes called the Rouse model. It was used later by Zimm (29) in a more general calculation which may be regarded as an application of the Kirkwood theory. As illustrated in Fig. 2.1, the Rouse model is composed of N + 1 frictional elements represented by beads connected in a linear array with N elastic elements or springs, hence the bead-spring model designation. The frictional element is assumed to represent the translational friction... 

Only recently has the theory of chain dynamics been extended by Peterlin (J [) and by Fixman (12) to encompass the known non-Newtonian intrinsic viscosity ofTlexible polymers. This theory, which is an extension of the Rouse-Zimm bead-and-spring model but which includes excluded volume effects, is much more complex than that for undeformable ellipsoids, and approximations are needed to make the problem tractable. Nevertheless, this theory agrees remarkably well (J2) with observations on polystyrene, which is surely a flexible chain. In particular, the theory predicts quite well the characteristic shear stress at which the intrinsic viscosity of polystyrene begins to drop from its low-shear Newtonian plateau. 

As discussed in Chapter 1, a Gaussian chain is physically equivalent to a string of beads connected by harmonic springs with the elastic constant ikT/lP (Eq. (1.47) with 6 given by Eq. (1.44)). Here each bead is regarded as a Brownian particle in modeling the chain d3mamics. Such a model was first proposed by Rouse and has been the basis of molecular theories for the dynamics of polymeric liquids. 34... 

In 1944 Kramers [1] published a phase-space kinetic theory for the steady-state potential flow of monodisperse dilute polymer systems in which the polymer molecule is modeled as a freely jointed bead-rod chain. Subsequent scholars developed kinetic theories for shearing flows of monodisperse dilute polymer solutions Kirkwood [2] for freely rotating bead-rod chains with equilibnum-averaged hydrodynamic interaction. Rouse [3] and Zimm [4] for freely jointed bead-spring chains, and others. These theories were all formulated m the configuration space of a single polymer chain. 

In the theories for dilute solutions of flexible molecules based on the bead-spring model, the contribution of the solute to the storage shear modulus, loss modulus, or relaxation modulus is given by a series of terms the magnitude of each of which is proportional to nkT, i.e., to cRTjM, as in equation 18 of Chapter 9 alternatively, the definition of [C ]y as the zero-concentration limit of G M/cRT (equations 1 and 6 of Chapter 9) implies that all contributions are proportional to nkT. Each contribution is associated with a relaxation time which is proportional to [ri Ti)sM/RT-, the proportionality constant (= for r i) depends on which theory applies (Rouse, Zimm, etc.) but is independent of temperature, as is evident, for example, in equation 27 of Chapter 9. Thus the temperature dependence of viscoelastic properties enters in four variables [r ], t/j, T explicitly, and c (which decreases slightly with increasing temperature because of thermal expansion). 

Since molecular theories of viscoelasticity are available only to describe the behavior of isolated polymer molecules at infinite dilution, efforts have been made over the years for measurements at progressively lower concentrations and it has been finally possible to extrapolate data to zero concentration. The behavior of linear flexible macromolecules is well described by the Rouse-Zimm theory based on a bead-spring model, except at high frequencies . Effects of branching can be taken into account, at least for starshaped molecules. At low and intermediate frequencies, the molec-... 

The theory of cyclization dynamics was first presented by Wileaski and Fixman [WF] (5). A number of curious features of the theory prompted detailed attention by Doi (11), by Perico and Cuniberti (12), and by others (13). The theory is developed in terms of the bead-and-spring Rouse-Zimm [RZ] model (14). Unrealistic in detail, this model is quite useful for describing low frequency, large flmq[>litude chain motions. The RZ model, figure 2, treats the chain as a series of n beads connected by (n-1)harmonic springs of root-mean-squared length b. 

The most studied relaxation processes from the point of view of molecular theories are those governing relaxation function, Gi(t), in equation [7.2.4]. According to the Rouse theoiy, a macromolecule is modeled by a bead-spring chain. The beads are the centers of... 

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