0000000000194827
AUTHOR
Grant D. Smith
showing 13 related works from this author
Some Things We Can Learn from Chemically Realistic Polymer Melt Simulations
2005
We present in this contribution results from Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations of a chemically realistic model of 1,4-polybutadiene (PB). The work we will discuss exemplifies the physical questions one can address with these types of simulations. We will specifically compare the results of the computer simulations with nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) experiments, neutron scattering experiments and dielectric data. These comparisons will show how important it is to understand the torsional dynamics of polymers in the melt to be able to explain the experimental findings. We will then introduce a freely rotating chain (FRC) model where all torsion potentials have been switched off and show …
13C NMR Spin−Lattice Relaxation and Conformational Dynamics in a 1,4-Polybutadiene Melt
2001
We have performed molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of a melt of 1,4-polybutadiene (PBD, 1622 Da) over the temperature range 400-273 K. 13 C NMR spin-lattice relaxation times (T 1 ) and nuclear Overhauser enhancement (NOE) values have been measured from 357 to 272 K for 12 different resonances. The T 1 and NOE values obtained from simulation C-H vector P 2 (t) orientational autocorrelation functions were in good agreement with experiment over the entire temperature range. Analysis of conformational dynamics from MD simulations revealed that T 1 depends much less strongly on the local chain microstructure than does the mean conformational transition time. Spin-lattice relaxation for a give…
Anomalous pressure dependence of the structure factor in 1,4-polybutadiene melts: A molecular dynamics simulation study
2004
Neutron scattering has shown the first diffraction peak in the structure factor of a 1,4-polybutadiene melt under compression to move to larger q values as expected but to decrease significantly in intensity. Simulations reveal that this behavior does not result from loss of structure in the polymer melt upon compression but rather from the generic effects of differences in the pressure dependence of the intermolecular and intramolecular contributions to the melt structure factor and differences in the pressure dependence of the partial structure factors for carbon-carbon and carbon-deuterium intermolecular correlations. This anomalous pressure dependence is not seen for protonated melts.
Structure and dynamics of amorphous polymers: computer simulations compared to experiment and theory
2004
This contribution considers recent developments in the computer modelling of amorphous polymeric materials. Progress in our capabilities to build models for the computer simulation of polymers from the detailed atomistic scale up to coarse-grained mesoscopic models, together with the ever-improving performance of computers, have led to important insights from computer simulations into the structural and dynamic properties of amorphous polymers. Structurally, chain connectivity introduces a range of length scales from that of the chemical bond to the radius of gyration of the polymer chain covering 2–4 orders of magnitude. Dynamically, this range of length scales translates into an even larg…
United Atom Force Field for Molecular Dynamics Simulations of 1,4-Polybutadiene Based on Quantum Chemistry Calculations on Model Molecules
1998
We present a united atom force field for simulations of 1,4-polybutadiene based on ab initio quantum chemistry calculations on model molecules. The geometries and energies of conformers and rotational energy barriers in model alkenes and dienes have been determined from high-level quantum chemistry calculations. A rotational isomeric state (RIS) model for 1,4-polybutadiene based on the conformer geometries and energies of the model molecules has been derived. The characteristic ratio and its temperature dependence for cis-1,4-polybutadiene and trans-1,4-polybutadiene, and the characteristic ratio of a random copolymer of cis and trans units, as predicted by the RIS model, are in good agreem…
Chain Motion in an Unentangled Polyethylene Melt: A Critical Test of the Rouse Model by Molecular Dynamics Simulations and Neutron Spin Echo Spectros…
1998
We have investigated the dynamic structure factor for single-chain relaxation in a polyethylene melt by means of molecular dynamics simulations and neutron spin echo spectroscopy. After accounting for a 20% difference in the chain self-diffusion coefficient between simulation and experiment we find a perfect quantitative agreement of the intermediate dynamic structure factor over the whole range of momentum transfer studied. Based on this quantitative agreement one can test the experimental results for deviations from standard Rouse behavior reported so far for only computer simulations of polymer melt dynamics.
A comparison of neutron scattering studies and computer simulations of polymer melts
2000
Abstract Neutron scattering and computer simulations are powerful tools for studying structural and dynamical properties of condensed matter systems in general and of polymer melts in particular. When neutron scattering studies and quantitative atomistic molecular dynamics simulations of the same material are combined, synergy between the methods can result in exciting new insights into polymer melts not obtainable from either method separately. We present here an overview of our recent efforts to combine neutron scattering and atomistic simulations in the study of melt dynamics of polyethylene and polybutadiene. Looking at polymer segmental motion on a picosecond time scale, we show how at…
A molecular dynamics simulation study of the alpha-relaxation in a 1,4-polybutadiene melt as probed by the coherent dynamic structure factor.
2004
The dynamic coherent structure factor Scoh(q,t) for a 1,4-polybutadiene (PBD) melt has been investigated using atomistic molecular dynamics simulations. The relaxation of Scoh(q,t) at q = 1.44 angstroms(-1) and q = 2.72 angstroms(-1), corresponding to the first and second peaks in the static structure factor for PBD, was studied in detail over a wide range of temperature. It was found that time-temperature superposition holds for the alpha-relaxation for both q values over a wide temperature range and that the alpha-relaxation can be well described by a stretched (Kohlrauch-William-Watts) exponential with temperature independent but q dependent amplitude and stretching exponent. The alpha-r…
The Role of Internal Rotational Barriers in Polymer Melt Chain Dynamics
2002
We present molecular dynamics simulations on 1,4-polybutadiene comparing the dynamics of melt chains between chemically realistic models and a freely rotating chain version of one of the models. These models exhibit the same liquid structure, as measured by the structure factor, and meso- to large-scale chain structure, as measured by the Rouse-mode amplitudes. We show that in this case the Rouse-like chain dynamics as observable in the momentum transfer range of neutron spin-echo experiments is the same for the chains with and without torsion barriers. Our results bear on a recent comparative neutron spin-echo study of the chain dynamics of two polymers with similar chain structure which r…
Dynamic heterogeneity in polymer electrolytes. Comparison between QENS data and MD simulations
2001
Abstract We have investigated the dynamics of poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) lithium-based salt electrolytes (PEO–LiBETI) using quasi-elastic neutron scattering (QENS). Measurements were carried out on the spectrometer NEAT (HMI, Berlin) above the melting temperature of PEO ( T m ≈65°C). The experimental data fully support the Molecular Dynamics (MD)-derived model of a heterogeneous dynamics in dilute PEO-salt electrolytes. In agreement with MD simulations carried out on PEO–LiPF 6 , we find evidences for the existence of two dynamic processes: (a) a faster process that is described in terms of the pure PEO dynamics and (b) a second component which we identify with the slower motion of the PEO …
Static and Dynamic Properties of a n-C100H202 Melt from Molecular Dynamics Simulations
1997
We present in this work results from atomistic molecular dynamics simulations of a n-C100H202 melt. This work represents a first effort to simulate a fully equilibrated ensemble of chains of suffic...
Glass transition in 1,4-polybutadiene: Mode-coupling theory analysis of molecular dynamics simulations using a chemically realistic model.
2006
We present molecular dynamics simulations of the glass transition in a chemically realistic model of 1,4-polybutadiene (PBD). Around 40 K above the calorimetric glass transition of this polymer the simulations reveal a well-developed two-stage relaxation of all correlation functions. We have analyzed the time-scale separation between vibrational degrees of freedom (subpicosecond dynamics) and the alpha relaxation behavior (nanosecond to microsecond dynamics) using the predictions of mode-coupling theory (MCT). Our value for the mode-coupling critical temperature Tc agrees perfectly with prior experimental estimates for PBD. The predictions of MCT for the scaling behavior of the so-called be…
Molecular Dynamics of a 1,4-Polybutadiene Melt. Comparison of Experiment and Simulation
1999
We have made detailed comparison of the local and chain dynamics of a melt of 1,4-polybutadiene (PBD) as determined from experiment and molecular dynamics simulation at 353 K. The PBD was found to have a random microstructure consisting of 40% cis, 50% trans, and 10% 1,2-vinyl units with a number-average degree of polymerization 〈Xn〉 = 25.4. Local (conformational) dynamics were studied via measurements of the 13C NMR spin−lattice relaxation time T1 and the nuclear Overhauser enhancement (NOE) at a proton resonance of 300 MHz for 12 distinguishable nuclei. Chain dynamics were studied on time scales up to 22 ns via neutron spin−echo (NSE) spectroscopy with momentum transfers ranging from q = …