Laminar flow-induced scission kinetics of polymers in dilute solutions

Mechanical degradation of macromolecules in strong flows is encountered in many industrial processes spanning from biopharmaceutics manufacturing to enhanced oil recovery. In spite of extensive research, from molecular studies to large experiments, unifying scaling laws and design rules to harness this phenomenon are still at an early stage. Some of the current modelling approaches predict the onset of flow-induced degradation only, leaving out quantitative calculations of scission events, while others are restricted to a particular process or the materials they have been empirically developed for. In this work we re-examine a previously published constitutive equation for the scission kinetics of polymers and implement the model using the finite volume library OpenFoam. We test and validate this model using experimental degradation measurements of aqueous poly(ethylene oxide) solutions flowing through narrow constrictions. Three polymer molecular weights and three constriction geometries are investigated. For each molecular weight, experimental degradation data of one geometry is used to calibrate the model. Following this calibration step, the level of polymer degradation as a function of flow rate can be predicted for the two other geometries, suggesting that mechanisms linking single molecule scission to macroscopic chemical reaction rate are accurately captured by the model. Although the focus of this work is on flexible linear polymers in dilute concentrations and laminar flow conditions, we discuss how to alleviate these assumptions and extend the applicability of the model to a broader range of materials and industrially relevant flow conditions.