Probing microscopic dynamics in a uni-axially strained polymer network

Abstract: We present a new apparatus that probes simultaneously the macroscopic mechanical response and the microscopic motion in polymer networks under uni-axial strain. The setup leverages photon correlation imaging, a space- and time-resolved dynamic light scattering method, to measure the dynamics along three orthogonal directions and on two distinct length scales, from tens of nanometers to a couple of microns. We show how to avoid artifacts due to scattering from the surface of the polymer films and derive a theoretical expression for the intensity correlation function due to a purely affine deformation, showing that the setup sensitivity may be simply tuned by varying the acceptance angle of the collection optics. Finally, we demonstrate the capabilities of the setup by investigating the microscopic dynamics of a poly(dimethylsiloxne) polymer network under tensile strain in the linear regime. We find that non-affine dynamics dominate on length scales smaller than a few microns, above which the affine response is recovered. Surprisingly, the cross-over length separating the non-affine and affine regimes \textit{increases} upon decreasing the applied tensile strain.