Rheological Properties of Polymers and Polymer Composites

Dear Colleagues,

Polymers have most certainly revolutionized the way we experience the world. Since the 1920s, when Hermann Staudinger first discovered experimental evidence of their existence, the research and production of polymers continuously proliferated. It is estimated that more than 330 million tons of synthetic polymers are manufactured every year. This stems from their fascinating, often exotic, properties that enable us to reveal their further application in our everyday life. The majority of these properties originate from the macromolecular nature of the constituent molecules. Polymers, particularly those produced in an industrial setting, are far from being simple linear chains; the norm is branched polymers composed of a backbone chain with substituent side chains or branches. Examples of branched polymers include star polymers, comb polymers, polymer brushes, dendronized polymers, ladder polymers, and dendrimers. Another crucial and unique class of non-linear polymers is non-concatenated ring polymers, i.e., macromolecules with linked chain ends, that exhibit fascinating dynamic and viscoelastic properties and that significantly deviate from those of their linear analogues. Finally, in addition to neat polymer systems, in recent years, we have witnessed significant advancements in new applications of polymeric systems. For example, we have witnessed a renewed interest in polymer nanocomposites, polymer networks, associating polymers, and polymer blends. As producing these polymeric systems necessitates their processing, it is absolutely vital that their rheological properties are fully understood at several levels (ranging from the microscopic to the macroscopic level) and a multitude of techniques are employed. Theoretical approaches can provide insights into unknown mechanisms, experimental rheological techniques could provide evidence of unknown phenomena, molecular simulations can be employed in order to assess such mechanisms, and numerical simulations can be applied to solve constitutive models. It is only through such a cooperative approach that a more efficient and economical basis for the design of new polymeric products and processes may be formed.

Therefore, recognizing the significance of understanding the rheological properties of polymeric systems, across scales and under a variety of conditions, we launch this Special Issue of Polymers entitled “Rheological Properties of Polymers and Polymer Composites", and invite the submission of papers that address several rheological aspects of macromolecular systems via experiments, theory, and simulations. Submissions may address the following topics:

1. Formulation of new constitutive modeling;
2. The study of entanglement dynamics under flow;
3. The development of new hierarchical or multi-scale strategies, the linear and nonlinear rheology of ring polymer nanocomposites, associating polymers, and self-assembled systems;
4. Non-equilibrium simulation methodologies, well-founded coarse-graining schemes for speeding up the simulations, Brownian or slip-link simulations, numerical simulations, and novel theoretical developments;
5. Polymer-filler materials;
6. Rheology, the production of neat polymers and nanocomposites;
7. How rheology can be useful for mixing and compounding processes.
8. Rheological equipment and new developments.

The above list is only indicative and by no means exhaustive; any original theoretical or simulation work or review article on the rheological properties of polymers and polymer nanocomposites will be highly welcome! We hope that these contributions will also address a variety of other systems, including linear and nonlinear polymer architectures, polymer solutions, polymer blends, copolymers, semi-conductive conjugate polymers, multicomponent polymeric systems, and polymers for biological or medical applications.

Dr. Pavlos Stephanou
Dr. Christos Georgantopoulos
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Polymers is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.