About the Cover:
When subject to shear, block copolymer stars elongate and, at the same time, interstar connections are reorganized. This leads to shear-induced deformation, structural reorganization, and shear-thinning behavior.

Abstract:
Block copolymer stars (BCSs) have been demonstrated to constitute versatile, self-assembling building blocks with tunable softness, functionalization, and shape. We investigate the dynamical properties of suspensions of short-arm BCSs under linear shear flow by means of extensive particle-based multiscale simulations. We determine the properties of the system for representative values of monomer packing fraction ranging from semidilute to concentrate regimes. We systematically analyze the formed network structures as a function of both shear rate and packing fraction, the reorganization of solvophobic patches, and the corresponding radial correlation functions. Connecting our findings with rheology, we calculate the viscosity as a function of shear rate and discuss the implications of the found shear thinning behavior.

Publication in "Macromolecules": Dynamical Properties of Concentrated Suspensions of Block Copolymer Stars in Shear Flow
Diego Jaramillo-Cano, Manuel Camargo, Christos N. Likos, and Ioana C. Gârlea Macromolecules 2020, 53, 22, 10015–10027
https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.macromol.0c01365