Conformational Change of Bead-Spring Chain During Creep Process: Interplay of Eigenmodes

The bead-spring chain is a well-established model for non-entangled polymers and also serves as a fundamental model for entangled chains. The dynamic behavior of this model chain under strain-controlled conditions has been fully analyzed in the literature. However, the behavior of the chain during the stress-controlled creep process, in particular its conformational dynamics, was not well understood.  In this talk, the conformational dynamics of the bead-spring chain is analyzed to demonstrate the importance of interplay of the motional eigenmodes during the creep process.