NON-TECHNICAL EXPLANATION: This award supports computational research and education focused on the study of reversible polymeric gels. The PI's research is aimed at elucidating the fundamental connections between the physics of these remarkable materials and glassy materials. Reversible polymeric gels contain networks of long chain molecules. The structure of these networks is very sensitive to applied forces. The properties of reversible gels are similar to those of other soft glassy matter, for example colloidal pastes, dense lamellar phases, thin glassy films, and emulsions. The behavior of soft glassy matter includes many still poorly understood phenomena and understanding fundamental connections to other materials may provide new insights. Experiments observe transformations between phases that result from the way these materials organize themselves on small length scales in response to static and time dependent applied forces. The PI will use computer simulations to study the nature of the transformations that occur in reversible gels in the context of previous work on thin glassy films. The PI will study the structure of the networks that result and how they change in response to applied forces. Reversible polymeric gels and soft glassy materials are not only of fundamental interest, but also have important applications. Physically associating polymers are used in paints, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and coatings. The problems studied here also have connections to problems involving networks in biological systems. The PI also plans to more broadly disseminate knowledge about these materials through the creation of short "movies" for use in presentations to the broader community and in lecture courses.
