Elucidating the 1 H NMR Relaxation Mechanism in Polydisperse Polymers and Bitumen Using Measurements, MD Simulations, and Models

Abstract : The mechanism behind the 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) frequency dependence of T1 and the viscosity dependence of T2 for polydisperse polymers and bitumen remains elusive. We elucidate the matter through NMR relaxation measurements of polydisperse polymers over an extended range of frequencies (f0 = 0.01–400 MHz) and viscosities (η = 385–102 000 cP) using T1 and T2 in static fields, T1 field-cycling relaxometry, and T1ρ in the rotating frame. We account for the anomalous behavior of the log-mean relaxation times T1LM ∝ f0 and T2LM ∝ (η/T)−1/2 with a phenomenological model of 1H–1H dipole–dipole relaxation, which includes a distribution in molecular correlation times and internal motions of the nonrigid polymer branches. We show that the model also accounts for the anomalous T1LM and T2LM in previously reported bitumen measurements. We find that molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of the T1 ∝ f0 dispersion and T2 of similar polymers simulated over a range of viscosities (η = 1–1000 cP) are in good agreement with measurements and the model. The T1 ∝ f0 dispersion at high viscosities agrees with previously reported MD simulations of heptane confined in a polymer matrix, which suggests a common NMR relaxation mechanism between viscous polydisperse fluids and fluids under nanoconfinement, without the need to invoke paramagnetism.