Search results for "polymers"
showing 10 items of 3567 documents
Monte Carlo simulation of block copolymers
2000
Monte Carlo simulations deal with crudely simplified but well-defined models and have the advantage that they treat the statistical thermodynamics of the considered model exactly (apart from statistical errors and problems due to finite size effects). Therefore, these simulations are well suited to test various approximate theories of block copolymer ordering, e.g. the self-consistent field theory. Recent examples of this approach include the study of block copolymer ordering at melt surfaces and confinement effects in thin films, adsorption of block copolymers at interfaces of unmixed homopolymer blends, the phase behavior of ternary mixtures of two homopolymers and their block copolymer, …
The phase diagram of a single polymer chain: New insights from a new simulation method
2006
We present simulation results for the phase behavior of a single chain for a flexible lattice polymer model using the Wang-Landau sampling idea. Applying this new algorithm to the problem of the homopolymer collapse allows us to investigate not only the high temperature coil–globule transition but also an ensuing crystallization at lower temperature. Performing a finite size scaling analysis on the two transitions, we show that they coincide for our model in the thermodynamic limit corresponding to a direct collapse of the random coil into the crystal without intermediate coil–globule transition. As a consequence, also the many chain phase diagram of this model can be predicted to consist o…
Local Viscosity in the Vicinity of a Wall Coated by Polymer Brush from Green-Kubo Relations
2008
When fluids are confined in slit pores between parallel walls, their static structures and their dynamical properties exhibit inhomogeneity in the z-direction perpendicular to the wall. Of particular interest are local bulk viscosity η b (z) and shear viscosity η s (z). Here, we discuss an algorithm to estimate these quantities from Green-Kubo relations using equilibrium molecular dynamics. As an application example, a polymer brush (macromolecules end-grafted to a substrate at z= 0) interacting with a solvent formed from point-like particles is given.
New Results on the Collapse Transition(s) of Flexible Homopolymers
2007
We analyze the collapse transition of flexible homopolymer chains in the bond-fluctuation model employing the Wang-Landau Monte Carlo algorithm. The coil-globule transition is followed by a first order transition into a solid state occurring in the collapsed globule. In the thermodynamic limit (chain length to infinity) the topology of the phase diagram depends on the range of the attractive interaction between the monomers. For sufficiently large interaction range a normal behaviour of a continuous coil-globule transition at the Θ-temperature followed by a crystallization transition at lower temperature is observed. For short interaction range the first-order transition asymptotically can …
Monte Carlo simulations of polymer dynamics: Recent advances
1997
A brief review is given of applications of Monte Carlo simulations to study the dynamical properties of coarse-grained models of polymer melts, emphasizing the crossover from the Rouse model toward reptation, and the glass transition. The extent to which Monte Carlo algorithms can mimic the actual chain dynamics is critically examined, and the need for the use of coarse-grained rather than fully atomistic models for such simulations is explained. It is shown that various lattice and continuum models yield qualitatively similar results, and the behavior agrees with the findings of corresponding molecular dynamics simulations and experiments, where available. It is argued that these simulatio…
Monte Carlo simulation of polymeric materials: Recent progress
1993
Monte Carlo simulations are presented, dealing with phase diagrams of block copolymer melts and polymer blends, including the unmixing kinetics of the latter systems. The theoretical background is briefly reviewed: Ginzburg-type criteria reveal that in mixtures of long flexible polymers a “crossover” occurs from mean-field behavior (as described by Flory-Huggins theory) to nonclassical Ising-type behavior, and spinodal curves can be unusually sharp. This crossover is demonstrated by large scale simulations of the bond fluctuation model, and it is also shown that for symmetric mixtures the critical temperature scales with chain length as Tc α N. The prefactor in this relation is distinctly s…
Structures of stiff macromolecules of finite chain length near the coil-globule transition: A Monte Carlo simulation
2000
Using a coarse-grained model of a semiflexible macromolecule, the equilibrium shapes of the chain have been studied varying both the temperature and the chain stiffness. We have applied Monte Carlo techniques using the bond fluctuation model for a chain length of N = 80 effective monomers, and two different types of interactions: a potential depending on the angle between successive bonds along the chain to control the chain stiffness, and an attractive interaction between non-bonded effective monomers to model variable solvent quality. In a diagram of states where chain stiffness and inverse temperature and used as variables, we find regions where the chain exists as coil, as spherical glo…
Formation of Micelles in Homopolymer-Copolymer Mixtures: Quantitative Comparison between Simulations of Long Chains and Self-Consistent Field Calcul…
2006
Using Monte Carlo simulations of the bond fluctuation model and self-consistent field calculations, we study the formation of micelles in a mixture of homopolymers and asymmetric AB-diblock copolymers with composition, fA = 1/8. Both types of molecules are fully flexible and have identical length. We work in the semi-grand-canonical ensemble, i.e., we fix the monomer density and incompatibility, χN ≃ 100 (strong segregation regime), and control the composition of the mixture via the exchange chemical potential, δμ ≡ μAB − μB between the copolymers and homopolymers. The Monte Carlo simulation comprises moves that allow homopolymers to mutate into AB-diblock copolymers and vice versa. These m…
Non-isothermal crystallization kinetics of PET
2000
The crystallization kinetics of poly(ethylene terephthalate) was studied using constant cooling rate, isothermal and quenching experiments. A non-isothermal crystallization kinetics equation based on a single mechanism was used to analyze the data. Different mechanisms of crystallization at low, intermediate, and high cooling rates were hypothesized based on deviation of the experimental data from the single mechanism model.
Study of the long-period changes in samples of isotactic poly(propylene) obtained by quenching from the melt and subsequent annealing at different te…
1997
The structural modifications induced in samples of isotactic poly(propylene) obtained by quenching from the melt at 100°C/s and subsequently annealed at 40, 60 and 80°C for different annealing times have been studied using simultaneous wide-angle and small-angle X-ray scattering at the synchrotron radiation source of DESY. The occurrance of two different long-period values is demonstrated. These values are related to the mesomorphic phase, existing in the starting quenched material, and to the α-monoclinic one, which settles during the annealing process, respectively.