title: Local Chain Segregation and Entanglements in a Confined Polymer Melt.
abstract: The reptation mechanism, introduced by de Gennes and Edwards, where a polymer diffuses along a fluffy tube, defined by the constraints imposed by its surroundings, convincingly describes the relaxation of long polymers in concentrated solutions and melts. We propose that the scale for the tube diameter is set by local chain segregation, which we study analytically. We show that the concept of local segregation is especially operational for confined geometries, where segregation extends over mesoscopic domains, drastically reducing binary contacts, and provide an estimate of the entanglement length. Our predictions are quantitatively supported by extensive molecular dynamics simulations on systems consisting of long, entangled chains.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Fundamental Physics, Department of Physics, Sejong University, Seoul 05006, Korea.|Institut Charles Sadron, Université de Strasbourg, CNRS UPR22, 23 rue du Loess 67034, Strasbourg cedex 2, France.
authors.forename: Nam-Kyung
authors.initials: NK
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Institut Charles Sadron, Université de Strasbourg, CNRS UPR22, 23 rue du Loess 67034, Strasbourg cedex 2, France.
authors.forename: Diddo
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Diddens
authors.affiliation: Institut Charles Sadron, Université de Strasbourg, CNRS UPR22, 23 rue du Loess 67034, Strasbourg cedex 2, France.
authors.forename: Hendrik
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Meyer
authors.affiliation: Institute of Fundamental Physics, Department of Physics, Sejong University, Seoul 05006, Korea.|Institut Charles Sadron, Université de Strasbourg, CNRS UPR22, 23 rue du Loess 67034, Strasbourg cedex 2, France.
authors.forename: Albert
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Johner