6533b854fe1ef96bd12addd2
RESEARCH PRODUCT
Monte Carlo simulation of micelle formation in block copolymer solutions
Kurt BinderDavid VidunaDavid VidunaAndrey MilchevAndrey Milchevsubject
Range (particle radiation)Polymers and PlasticsMass distributionChemistryOrganic ChemistryMonte Carlo methodThermodynamicsGyration tensorCondensed Matter PhysicsMicelleInorganic ChemistryCritical micelle concentrationMaterials ChemistryCopolymerPhysical chemistrydescription
Short block copolymers in selective solvents (bad for A-block, good for B-block) are modeled by flexible bead-spring chains, where beads interact with short range Morse potentials of variable strength. It is shown that already very short chains (N A = N B = 2) exhibit a rather well-defined critical micelle concentration (cmc). The mass distribution of the micelles and their gyration tensor components as well as their internal structure are studied. It is shown that the relaxation time increases exponentially with the strength E AA of the attractive energy between the A-monomers, and thus frozen-in micelles of medium size are obtained when E AA is chosen too large. Our results are compared to studies of related but somewhat different models.
| year | journal | country | edition | language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998-11-01 | Macromolecular Theory and Simulations |