Search results for "MECHANICS"
showing 10 items of 9361 documents
Calculation of the Phase Behavior of Lipids
1998
The self-assembly of monoacyl lipids in solution is studied employing a model in which the lipid's hydrocarbon tail is described within the Rotational Isomeric State framework and is attached to a simple hydrophilic head. Mean-field theory is employed, and the necessary partition function of a single lipid is obtained via a partial enumeration over a large sample of molecular conformations. The influence of the lipid architecture on the transition between the lamellar and inverted-hexagonal phases is calculated, and qualitative agreement with experiment is found.
Scaling theory of star polymers and general polymer networks in bulk and semi-infinite good solvents
1988
Theorie d'echelle utilisant l'equivalence entre la fonction generatrice du nombre total de configuration et la fonction de correlation a plusieurs spins du modele de Heisenberg classique a n composantes dans la limite n→0
Third virial coefficient for 4-arm and 6-arm star polymers
2008
We discuss the computation of the third virial coefficient in polymer systems, focusing on an additional contribution absent in the case of monoatomic fluids. We determine the interpenetration ratio and several quantities that involve the third virial coefficient for star polymers with 4 and 6 arms in the good-solvent regime, in the limit of a large degree of polymerization.
KINETICS OF POLYMER EJECTION FROM CAPSID CONFINEMENT: SCALING CONSIDERATIONS AND COMPUTER EXPERIMENT
2012
We investigate the ejection dynamics of a flexible polymer chain out of confined environment by means of scaling considerations and Monte Carlo simulations. Situations of this kind arise in different physical contexts, including a flexible synthetic polymer partially confined in a nanopore and a viral genome partially ejected from its capsid. In the case of cylindric confinement the entropic driving force which pulls the chain out of the pore is argued to be constant once a few persistent lengths are out of the pore. We demonstrate that in this case the ejection dynamics follows a [Formula: see text]-law with elapsed time t. The mean ejection time τ depends nonmonotonically on chain length…
Polymer dynamics in time-dependent periodic potentials.
2008
Dynamics of a discrete polymer in time-dependent external potentials is studied with the master equation approach. We consider both stochastic and deterministic switching mechanisms for the potential states and give the essential equations for computing the stationary state properties of molecules with internal structure in time-dependent periodic potentials on a lattice. As an example, we consider standard and modified Rubinstein-Duke polymers and calculate their mean drift and effective diffusion coefficient in the two-state non-symmetric flashing potential and symmetric traveling potential. Rich non-linear behavior of these observables is found. By varying the polymer length, we find cur…
Scaling behavior of topologically constrained polymer rings in a melt
2014
Large scale molecular dynamics simulations on graphic processing units (GPUs) are employed to study the scaling behavior of ring polymers with various topological constraints in melts. Typical sizes of rings containing $3_1$, $5_1$ knots and catenanes made up of two unknotted rings scale like $N^{1/3}$ in the limit of large ring sizes $N$. This is consistent with the crumpled globule model and similar findings for unknotted rings. For small ring lengths knots occupy a significant fraction of the ring. The scaling of typical ring sizes for small $N$ thus depends on the particular knot type and the exponent is generally larger than 0.4.
Melt stabilization of wet polyamide 6
2002
Abstract Melt processing of polycondensate polymers must be carried out after careful drying in order to avoid any hydrolytic chain scission caused by the presence of water or other small molecules. In this work, the effect of two different antioxidants on the processing and flow properties of a polyamide 6 sample not dried before processing operations has been studied. One of these stabilizers seems to protect the wet polymer from hydrolytic chain scission. This action has been interpreted considering that the stabilizer hydrolyses instead of the polyamide macromolecules.
Stimuli-responsive brushes with active minority components: Monte Carlo study and analytical theory
2015
Using a combination of analytical theory, Monte Carlo simulations, and three dimensional self-consistent field calculations, we study the equilibrium properties and the switching behavior of adsorption-active polymer chains included in a homopolymer brush. The switching transition is driven by a conformational change of a small fraction of minority chains, which are attracted by the substrate. Depending on the strength of the attractive interaction, the minority chains assume one of two states: An exposed state characterized by a stem-crown-like conformation, and an adsorbed state characterized by a flat two-dimensional structure. Comparing the Monte Carlo simulations, which use an Edwards-…
Adsorption Transition of a Polymer Chain at a Weakly Attractive Surface: Monte Carlo Simulation of Off-Lattice Models
2002
A bead-spring model of a polymer chain with one end attached to a wall is studied by Monte Carlo simulations for chain lengths 16 ≤ N ≤ 256. Two types of adsorption potentials, 9-3 and 10-4 Lennard-Jones (LJ) potentials, between the effective monomers and the wall are assumed. For both cases the adsorption transition where the chain changes its asymptotic statistical properties from a three-dimensional to a two-dimensional configuration is located using a scaling analysis. It is shown that the crossover exponent φ = 0.50 ± 0.02 is the same for both LJ potentials. This value is compatible with recent theoretical predictions and simulation results for lattice models with short-range wall pote…
Constant stretching rate experiments on low density polyethylene
1985
A simple apparatus for elongational test of molten polymers is presented. Its realiability is demonstrated by means of stress growth in constant stretching rate experiments and relaxation test on a low density polyethylene sample.