0000000000194828
AUTHOR
Dmitry Bedrov
Some Things We Can Learn from Chemically Realistic Polymer Melt Simulations
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
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
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.
A molecular dynamics simulation study of the alpha-relaxation in a 1,4-polybutadiene melt as probed by the coherent dynamic structure factor.
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…
Glass transition in 1,4-polybutadiene: Mode-coupling theory analysis of molecular dynamics simulations using a chemically realistic model.
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…