Comment on: "Relating Chain Conformations to Extensional Stress in Entangled Polymer Melts"

Abstract

Based on non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations of entangled polymer melts, a recent Letter [Phys. Rev. Lett. $\textbf{121}$, 047801 (2018), arXiv:1806.09509] claims that the rising extensional stress is quantitatively consistent with the decreasing entropy of chains at the equilibrium entanglement length. We point out that exactly the opposite is true: the intrachain entropic stress arising from individual entanglement strands generally does not agree with the total "macroscopic" stress. The conclusion of the Letter is based on an incomplete and questionable analysis of a limited range of the simulation trajectory. The opposite conclusion should have been drawn from their data, had they examined the full simulation trajectory in a proper way.