Search results for "dynamics."
showing 10 items of 9637 documents
Glass transition of polymer melts: Test of theoretical concepts by computer simulation.
2003
Abstract Polymers are good glass formers and allow for the study of melts near the glass transition in (meta-)stable equilibrium. Theories of the glass transition imply such an equilibrium and can, hence, be tested by the study of polymer melts. After a brief summary of the basic experimental facts about the glass transition in polymers, the main theoretical concepts are reviewed: mode coupling theory (MCT), entropy theory, free-volume theory, the idea of a growing length describing the size of cooperative regions, etc. Then, two basic coarse-grained models of polymers are described, which have been developed aiming at a test of these concepts. The first model is the bond-fluctuation model …
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…
Molecular dynamics simulations of the glass transition in polymer melts
2004
Computer simulations of polymer models have contributed strongly to our understanding of the glass transition in polymer melts. The ability of the simulation to provide information on experimentally not directly accessible quantities like the detailed spatial arrangement of the particles allows for stringent tests of theoretical concepts about the glass transition and provides additional insight for the interpretation of experimental data. Comparing coarse-grained simulations of a bead-spring model and chemically realistic simulations of 1,4-polybutadiene the importance of dihedral barriers for the glass transition phenomenon can be elucidated.
A procedure for predicting sorption equilibrium in ternary polymer systems from Flory–Huggins binary interaction parameters and the inversion point o…
1989
A procedure has been developed, based on the Flory–Huggins theory as generalized by Pouchlý, which permits the calculation of preferential (λ) and total (Y) sorption coefficients from previous information on the binary interaction parameters, χ, χ, and g12(ϕ10) and on the mixture composition at which the sign of λ inverts. The expressions obtained were applied to 10 cosolvent polymer systems for which experimental values of λ and Y are known. Practically in all the studied systems, the theoretical predictions are in fair accordance with the experimental data.
A Flory–Huggins thermodynamic approach for predicting sorption equilibrium in ternary polymer systems
1989
The Flory–Huggins theory as modified by Pouchlý has been applied to calculate preferential (λ) and total (Y) sorption coefficients for a ternary polymer system. The ternary interaction function (ϕ1ϕ2ϕ3GT(u1, ϕ3)) is described as the product of three independent binary functions. This expression allows prediction of λ and Y from binary interaction parameters χ, χ, g, g, and g12(ϕ10). Three ternary polymer systems are used to check the validity of the expression. Moreover for polymer systems in which the parameters g and/or g are unknown, a procedure to evaluate them has been developed and verified on systems for which sufficient experimental information is available.
Simulation of first- and second-order transitions in asymmetric polymer mixtures
1993
The critical properties of dense asymmetric binary polymer mixtures are studied by grand canonical simulations within the framework of the 3-dimensional bond fluctuation lattice model. The monomers interact with each other via a potential ranging over the entire first peak of the pair distribution. An asymmetry is realized by giving the ratio of interactions λ = ∈AA/∈BB between monomers of the A-species and of the B-species a value different from 1. Using multiple histogram extrapolation techniques for the data analysis, the two phase region, which is a line of first-order transitions driven by the chemical potential difference, and the critical point are determined for a mixture of chains …
Influence of Molar Mass Distribution on the Compatibility of Polymers
1996
Abstract Phase equilibria were calculated by means of a new method (direct minimization of the Gibbs energy of mixing) for polymer blends consisting of monodisperse polymer A and polydisperse polymer B. The results obtained for a Schulz-Flory distribution of B (molecular nonuniformity U = (M w/M n) −1 = 1 and 100 components of model B) agree quantitatively with that of computations on the basis of continuous thermodynamics. The influence of U B on the miscibility of A and B in 1:1 mixtures was studied for constant M w of B, quantifying the incompatibility of the polymers by the length of the tie lines. The outcome of these calculations demonstrates that the typical effect of an augmentation…
An Alternate Interpretation of Polymer/Solvent Jump Size Units for Free-Volume Diffusion Models
1996
Polystyrene/toluene mutual-diffusion coefficients have been measured as a function of temperature in the limit of infinite solvent dilution. The solvent to polymer jump size unit ratio (ξ) was determined from the Vrentas−Duda free-volume diffusion model for polymer self-diffusion and is in excellent agreement with values evaluated from solvent self- and binary mutual-diffusion coefficient data. Comparison of the free-volume model to a version of the Kirkwood−Riseman theory, modified for diffusion at infinite dilution under non-ϑ conditions, suggests that ξ follows the temperature dependence of the root-mean-squared end-to-end distance of the polystyrene and can be estimated without the use …
Solid state NMR - A tool for studying molecular motion in polymers
1986
After an introduction describing the development of 1H, 2H, and 13C solid state NMR two sections on 13C and 2H NMR, respectively, outline the physical background as related with molecular motion. Some representative examples demonstrate the potential of recent NMR techniques in polymer dynamics studies.
Enzyme molecular mechanism as a starting point to design new inhibitors: a theoretical study of O-GlcNAcase.
2011
O-Glycoprotein 2-acetamino-2-deoxy-β-d-glucopyranosidase (O-GlcNAcase) hydrolyzes O-linked 2-acetamido-2-deoxy-β-d-glucopyranoside (O-GlcNAc) residues from post-translationally modified serine/threonine residues of nucleocytoplasmic protein. The chemical process involves substrate-assisted catalysis, where two aspartate residues have been identified as the two key catalytic residues of O-GlcNAcase. In this report, the first step of the catalytic mechanism used by O-GlcNAcase involving substrate-assisted catalysis has been studied using a hybrid quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical (QM/MM) Molecular Dynamics (MD) calculations. The free energy profile shows that the formation of the oxazol…