Project: Strain hardening behavior of polymer melts

under elongational field flow

My research area is polymer blends. I am specifically interested in the strain hardening behavior of polymer melts under the elongational flow field. As one part of my research, I am interested in the effect of the strain hardening behavior of a matrix on the deformation of the dispersed phase. I have studied on the morphology evolution of PS/HDPE blends under the elongational flow field, and observed that the strain hardening behavior strongly affects the deformation of the dispersed phase. As a second part of my research, I am interested in the effect of the crystallization process on the rheological behavior of semi-crystalline polymer blends. I have found that there exists a strong interaction around the interface of the crystallites in some polyolefin blends, and we could induce the strain hardening behavior in some polyolefin blends by controlling the crystallization process of the components. First, I would like to investigate the following: what the reality of the interaction is, how it induces the strain hardening behavior, and how the processing condition affects the behavior.