Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dzt6s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T02:31:50.628Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Simulations of Polymer Blends and Interfaces

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 February 2011

Martin-D. Laasse  and
Gary S. Grest
Martin-D. Laasse
Affiliation:
Corporate Research Science Laboratories, Exxon Research and Engineering Company, Annandale, New Jersey 08801.
Gary S. Grest
Affiliation:
Corporate Research Science Laboratories, Exxon Research and Engineering Company, Annandale, New Jersey 08801.
Get access

Abstract

An efficient continuum-space model for simulating polymer blends and copolymers is presented. In this model, the interactions are short-range and purely repulsive, thus allowing for excellent computational performances. The driving force for phase separation is a difference in the repulsive interaction strength between like and unlike mers. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the model, we study the phase behavior of a symmetric binary blend of polymers as well as the interface between the two immiscible phases. As predicted by theory, we find the critical interaction parameter to scaie with the inverse of the chain length of the polymers. The structure of the interface between two immiscible phases is investigated as a function of chain length and immiscibility. Capillary waves are observed and their measurementallows us to determine the surface tension accurately. Finally, the surface tension is related to the interface width.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 461: Symposia BB – Morphological Control in Multiphase Polymer Mix… , 1996 , 129
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1997

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

1 For a collection of recent reviews see Monte Carlo and Molecular Dynamics Simulations m Polymer Science, edited by Binder, K. (Oxford University Press, New York, 1995).Google Scholar
2 Hill, T.L., An Introduction to Stastistical Thermodynamics (Dover, New York, 1986) p. 316.Google Scholar
3 Allen, M.P. and Tildesley, D.J., Computer Simulation of Liquids (Clarendon, Oxford, 1987).Google Scholar
4 Gehlsen, M.D. et al, Phys. Rev. Lett. 68, 2452 (1992).Google Scholar
5 Kremer, K. and Grest, G.S., J. Chem. Phys. 92, 5057 (1990);Google Scholar
5 Kremer, K. and Grest, G.S., J. Chem. Phys. 94, 4103 (1991) (Erratum).Google Scholar
6 Sariban, A. and Binder, K., J. Chem. Phys. 86, 5859 (1987); Macromolecules 21, 711 (1988).Google Scholar
7 Deutsch, H.-P., J. Stat. Phys. 67, 1039 (1992).Google Scholar
8 Grest, G.S., Lacasse, M.-D., Kremer, K., and Gupta, A., J. Chem. Phys. 105, 10583 (1996).Google Scholar
9 Semenov, A.N., Macromolecules 27, 2732 (1994).Google Scholar
10 Stamm, M. and Schubert, D.W., Ann. Rev. Mater. Sci. 25, 325 (1995).Google Scholar