Motions of one stiff molecule in an entangled polymer melt

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Abstract
1) A rod, of length L immersed in a sea of flexible polymer chains (P monomers/chain) is expected to have a translational mobility (or diffusion constant) inversely proportional to the rod length and independent of P. 2) The rotational diffusion constant Drot is more delicate : a) for very long rods Drot N kT/[ η(P) L3] is controlled by Stokes friction and inversely proportional to the melt viscosity η(P) ; b) for shorter rods, Drot becomes proportional to L—5 and independent of P. Regime (b) describes a « reptation-rotation process » where the rod slides along its own axis and achieves weak, cumulative, changes in orientation. We discuss the consequences of these properties on the Kerr effect, and on the linear viscoelastic properties, of dilute suspensions of rods

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