Figure 5: Effect of NPs on entanglement tube diameter and effective number of entanglements of host polymer chains. | Nature Communications

Figure 5: Effect of NPs on entanglement tube diameter and effective number of entanglements of host polymer chains.

From: Phase stability and dynamics of entangled polymer–nanoparticle composites

Figure 5

(a) The effect of NP volume fraction on α≡(τe/τ0)1/4=ae/b for PNCs with respect to the particle-free melt. (b) Surface-to-surface distance (ds–s=dp–p−(2Δ+D)), for Δ=2Rg and Δ∼Nb, as a function of particle content. The dashed horizontal line corresponds to the tube diamater (ao) of the host polymer. (c) Schematic of the mechanism through which hairy NPs exert entanglement-like constraints on polymer chains in a PNC. (d) β≡(τt/τe)1/3=31/3Z versus NP volume fraction for PNCs with respect to particle-free polymer melts.

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