Hamid Taghipour

Shear Rheology of Polymer Melts

Understanding and predicting the behavior of polymeric melts in shear flow has been a major challenge. Nonlinear behaviour in shear deformations provides information about the structural features of molecules that are not revealed by extensional data. The goal of this research is developing models to quantitatively predict & understand the non-linear behavior and trying to figure out the discrepancies found in the established semi-quantitative theories for extensional rheology. A major goal ahead is to compare the predictions with the available experimental data and correctly interpret the experimental behavior even by modifying the existing theories.