Related papers: Structure and rheological properties of model micr…
Understanding a material's dissipative response is important for their use in many applications, such as adhesion or fracture resistance. In dispersions, the interplay between matrix and inclusions complicates any description. Fractional…
Giant micelles are elongated, polymer-like objects created by the self-assembly of amphiphilic molecules (such as detergents) in solution. Giant micelles are typically flexible, and can become highly entangled even at modest concentrations.…
We present a detailed comparison of the rheological behaviour of sheared sediment beds in a pressure-driven, straight channel configuration based on data that was generated by means of fully coupled, grain-resolved direct numerical…
Biomimetic hydrogels based on natural polymers are a promising class of biomaterial, mimicking the natural extra-cellular matrix of biological tissues and providing cues for cell attachment, proliferation and differentiation. With a view to…
We present an experimental study of the rheology and structure of a confined suspension of deformable particles flowing in a quasi-two-dimensional Poiseuille flow. Thanks to a precise microfluidic viscosimetry technique combined with…
We report Monte Carlo results for the fluid structure of a system of dimeric particles interacting via a core-softened potential. More specifically, dimers interact through a repulsive pair potential of inverse-power form, modified in such…
Poly(ionic liquid)s (PILs), similar to their ionic liquid (IL) analogues, present a nanostructure arising from local interactions. The influence of this nanostructure on the macromolecular conformation of polymer chains is investigated for…
A new method based on the combination of small-anglescattering, reverse Monte Carlo simulations, and an aggregate recognition algorithm is proposed to characterize the structure of nanoparticle suspensions in solvents and polymer…
Soft materials possessing tunable rheological properties are desirable in applications ranging from 3D printing to biological scaffolds. Here, we use a telechelic, triblock copolymer polystyrene-b-poly(ethylene oxide)-b-polystyrene (SEOS)…
Using molecular dynamics simulations we study the static and dynamic properties of spherical nanoparticles (NPs) embedded in a disordered and polydisperse polymer network. Purely repulsive (RNP) as well as weakly attractive (ANP) polymer-NP…
Nano- to micro-sized particles with differently charged surface areas exhibit complex interaction patterns, characterized by both opposite-charge attraction and like-charge repulsion. While several successful models have been proposed in…
Based on Monte Carlo (MC) computer simulations we study the structure formation of a system of magnetic nanorods. Our model particles consist of fused spheres with permanent magnetic dipole moments, as inspired by recent experiments. The…
The properties of suspensions of fine particles in dielectric liquid (electrorheological fluids) subjected to an electric field lead to a drastic change of the apparent viscosity of the fluid. For high applied fields (~ 3-5 kV/mm) the…
The structure and interactions of coated silica nanoparticles have been studied in water using molecular dynamics simulations. For 5 nm diameter amorphous silica nanoparticles we studied the effects of varying the chain length and grafting…
Phase separation of saturated micellar network, as a result of cross-linking of branched micelles is established in mixed solutions of the anionic surfactant sodium laurylethersulfate (SLES) and the zwitterionic cocamidopropyl betaine…
In this thesis the formation and properties of a polymer gel on and at a surface are investigated. The gel under investigation is defined as a three-dimensional network of "phantom" macromolecules that form permanent links with one another…
We investigate the behaviour of randomly cross-linked (co)polymer blends using a combination of replica theory and large-scale molecular dynamics simulations. In particular, we derive the analogue of the random phase approximation for…
Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of crystalline poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) have been carried out in order to study its vibrational properties. The vibrational density of states has been calculated using a normal mode analysis (NMA) and…
Carbon-elastomer composites exhibit complex piezoresistive behaviour that cannot be fully explained by existing macroscopic or microstructural models. In this work, we introduce a network-based modelling methodology to explore the…
The dynamic behavior of a partially wetting polymer droplet driven over a nanostructured interface is studied using molecular dynamics simulations. We consider the bead-spring model to represent a polymeric liquid that partially wets a…