Role of viscoelasticity in non-equilibrium steady states of sheared entangled polymer mixtures

Abstract

Through two-dimensional numerical simulations, we present the detailed dynamic evolution of microstructure in sheared polymer mixtures and quantitatively analyze the role of viscoelasticity in non-equilibrium steady states. The result reveals that the viscoelastic effects play an essential role in forming a non-equilibrium steady state as well as the interfacial force, the inertial force, and the viscous force. By tuning the coefficients in a two-fluid model, we also find that the magnitude of viscoelastic contribution does influence the existence of non-equilibrium steady state.