The Los Alamos Neutron Science Center neutron rheometer in the cone and plate geometry to examine tethered polymers/polymer melt interfaces via neutron reflectivity

Development of a confocal rheometer for soft and biological materials

We discuss the design and operation of a confocal rheometer, formed by integrating an Anton Paar MCR301 stress-controlled rheometer with a Leica SP5 laser scanning confocal microscope. Combining two commercial instruments results in a system which is straightforward to assemble that preserves the performance of each component with virtually no impact on the precision of either device. The instruments are configured so that the microscope can acquire time-resolved, three-dimensional volumes of a sample whose bulk viscoelastic properties are being measured simultaneously. We describe several aspects of the design and, to demonstrate the system's capabilities, present the results of a few common measurements in the study of soft materials.

Shear-induced metastable states of end-grafted polystyrene

The in situ molecular scale response of end-grafted polystyrene to shear against a deuterated polystyrene melt was investigated with neutron reflectometry. The derived grafted polystyrene density profiles showed that the grafted polystyrene was retained on the quartz wafer during the measurements. The profiles suggested that the end-grafted polystyrene response to shear results in a series of metastable states, rather than equilibrium states assumed in the current theory. Except for some possible extension and/or contraction of the grafted polystyrene with shear, there was no obvious correlation between the grafted polymer structure and the shear thinning behavior observed in these samples.