Chain stretching effect on domain growth during spinodal decomposition of binary polymer mixtures under simple shear flow

The chain stretching effect on domain growth during spinodal decomposition bi-binary polymer simple shear flow is investigated by computer simulation. The simulation is based mixtures under on a modified time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau equation in which the chain stretching effect is introduced in the free energy functional. It is found that, for higher value of Rouse terminal relaxation time,:the-critical strain value for the burst of the domains is higher, thereby the domains are highly elongated. This may be responsible for the stringlike patterns observed experimentally under strong shear. When the chain stretching effect is introduced, the shear rate dependencies of the shear stress and first normal stress difference become stronger. The shear stress and first normal stress difference reach their maxima for the system of 1:1: mixture. The simulated results agree with the experimental observations qualitatively. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics.