Simulation of Entangled Polymer Solutions
Computational Physics
2017-01-10 v1 Soft Condensed Matter
Abstract
We present a computer simulation of entangled polymer solutions at equilibrium. The chains repel each other via a soft Gaussian potential, appropriate for semi-dilute solutions at the scale of a correlation blob. The key innovation to suppress chain crossings is to use a pseudo-continuous model of a backbone which effectively leaves no gaps between consecutive points on the chain, unlike the usual bead-and-spring model. Our algorithm is sufficiently fast to observe the entangled regime using a standard desktop computer. The simulated structural and mechanical correlations are in fair agreement with the expected predictions for a semi-dilute solution of entangled chains.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1701.01866,
title = {Simulation of Entangled Polymer Solutions},
author = {Airidas Korolkovas and Philipp Gutfreund and Jean-Louis Barrat},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1701.01866},
year = {2017}
}