Search results for " Transition"
showing 10 items of 2751 documents
Small-Angle Excess Scattering: Glassy Freezing or Local Orientational Ordering?
1996
We present Monte Carlo simulations of a dense polymer melt which shows glass-transition-like slowing-down upon cooling, as well as a build up of nematic order. At small wave vectors q this model system shows excess scattering similar to that recently reported for light-scattering experiments on some polymeric and molecular glass-forming liquids. For our model system we can provide clear evidence that this excess scattering is due to the onset of short-range nematic order and not directly related to the glass transition.
Anisotropic motion of toluene above and below the glass transition studied by 2H NMR
1995
Abstract 2 H nuclear magnetic resonance spin-lattice relaxation experiments on two selectively deuterated toluene molecules have been performed over a wide temperature range, spanning liquid and glassy states, to examine anisotropic molecular dynamics. In the liquid regime, the relaxation data are analyzed by the model of anisotropic rotational diffusion. A more phenomenological ansatz is used for the whole temperature regime to obtain information about anisotropic reorientation and its temperature dependence. We find that the anisotropy is reduced in the supercooled state and the motion becomes approximately isotropic below 140 K which is interpreted as the onset of cooperative reorientati…
Intramolecular caging in polybutadiene due to rotational barriers
2003
We present molecular dynamics simulations of a chemically realistic model of 1,4-polybutadiene and a freely rotating chain model derived from the first model by neglecting all dihedral potentials. We show that the presence of energy barriers hindering dihedral rotation leads to an intermediate plateau regime in the tagged particle mean-squared displacement reminiscent of the cage effect underlying the mode-coupling description of the liquid-glass transition. This intramolecular caging, however, occurs already at temperatures well above the glass transition regime. Because of its different physical origin, it also does not comply with the theoretical predictions of the mode-coupling theory. …
ChemInform Abstract: Tuning the Defect Configurations in Nematic and Smectic Liquid Crystalline Shells
2013
Thin liquid crystalline shells surrounding and surrounded by aqueous phases can be conveniently produced using a nested capillary microfluidic system, as was first demonstrated by Fernandez-Nieves et al. in 2007. By choosing particular combinations of stabilizers in the internal and external phases, different types of alignment, uniform or hybrid, can be ensured within the shell. Here, we investigate shells in the nematic and smectic phases under varying boundary conditions, focusing in particular on textural transformations during phase transitions, on the interaction between topological defects in the director field and inclusions in the liquid crystal (LC), and on the possibility to relo…
Direct observation of a buckling transition during the formation of thin colloidal crystals
2007
We have investigated a colloidal suspension in a thin wedge formed by two glass plates in the presence of a lateral pressure. Starting with a single hexagonal layer, with increasing separation between the glass plates additional layers are added. This process is accompanied by a number of structural transitions necessary to maintain a high packing fraction under the given boundary conditions. Besides the well-known sequence of hexagonal and quadratic phases, we observe two new phases which are identified with the buckling and the rhombic phase recently predicted by other authors.
Brownian dynamics of polydisperse colloidal hard spheres: Equilibrium structures and random close packings
1994
Recently we presented a new technique for numerical simulations of colloidal hard-sphere systems and showed its high efficiency. Here, we extend our calculations to the treatment of both 2- and 3-dimensional monodisperse and 3-dimensional polydisperse systems (with sampled finite Gaussian size distribution of particle radii), focusing on equilibrium pair distribution functions and structure factors as well as volume fractions of random close packing (RCP). The latter were determined using in principle the same technique as Woodcock or Stillinger had used. Results for the monodisperse 3-dimensional system show very good agreement compared to both pair distribution and structure factor predic…
Monte Carlo Simulations of Growth Kinetics and Phase Transitions at Interfaces: Some Recent Results
1991
ABSTRACTIn the first part Monte Carlo studies of the kinetics of multilayer adsorption (without screening) are described. The approach to the jamming coverage in each layer is asymptotically exponential. The jamming coverages approach the infinite-layer limit value according to a power law. In the second part, studies of phase transitions in two dimensional fluids are reviewed. With a combination of Monte Carlo and finite size scaling block analysis techniques, accurate values are obtained for the critical temperatures, coexistence densities and the compressibilities of an adsorbed fluid layer in an NVT ensemble.
Anomalous diffusion of polymers in supercooled melts near the glass transition
2007
Two coarse-grained models for polymer chains in dense melts near the glass transition are investigated: the bond fluctuation lattice model, where long bonds are energetically favored, is studied by dynamic Monte Carlo simulation, and an off-lattice bead-spring model with Lennard-Jones forces between the beads is treated by Molecular Dynamics. We compare the time-dependence of the mean square displacements of both models, and show that they become very similar on mesoscopic scales (i.e., displacements larger than a bond length). The slowing down of motions near the glass transition is discussed in terms of the mode coupling theory and other concepts.
Phase transitions in polymer blends and block copolymer melts: Some recent developments
2005
The classical concepts about unmixing of polymer blends (Flory-Huggins theory) and about mesophase ordering in block copolymers (Leibler's theory) are briefly reviewed and their validity is discussed in the light of recent experiments, computer simulations and other theoretical concepts. It is emphasized that close to the critical point of unmixing non-classical critical exponents of the Ising universality class are observed, in contrast to the classical mean-field exponents implied by the Flory-Huggins theory. The temperature range of this non-mean-field behavior can be understood by Ginzburg criteria. The latter are also useful to discuss the conditions under which the linearized (Cahn-li…
How do droplets on a surface depend on the system size?
2002
Abstract We investigate the thermodynamics of inhomogeneous polymer melts in the framework of a coarse grained off-lattice model. Properties of the liquid–vapour interface and the packing of the melt in contact with an attractive wall are considered. We employ Monte Carlo simulations in the grand canonical ensemble to determine excess free energies, the wetting temperature and the pre-wetting line, as well as the pre-wetting critical point. Having determined the wetting properties and the phase diagram of the model polymer, we perform canonical Monte Carlo simulations of small droplets on a surface. This allows us to study the dependence of droplet size on the wetting properties. It is foun…