Related papers: Tunable Cooperative Motion, Rigidity, and Glassy D…
We present a comprehensive theoretical study of finite size effects in the relaxation dynamics of glass-forming liquids. Our analysis is motivated by recent theoretical progress regarding the understanding of relevant correlation length…
Previously, we developed a minimal model based on random cooperative strings for the relaxation of supercooled liquids in the bulk and near free interfaces, and we recovered some key experimental observations. In this article, after…
One of the general mechanisms that give rise to the slow cooperative relaxation characteristic of classical glasses is the presence of kinetic constraints in the dynamics. Here we show that dynamical constraints can similarly lead to slow…
Soft matter systems are common in nature and make up nearly all the essential components necessary for life, from cells to the organelles within those cells. The ability of these soft materials to deform is crucial for the proper…
We study by Molecular Dynamics simulation a dense one-component system of particles confined on a spherical substrate. We more specifically investigate the evolution of the structural and dynamical properties of the system when changing the…
We investigate the mechanical properties of amorphous polymers by means of coarse-grained simulations and nonaffine lattice dynamics theory. A small increase of polymer chain bending stiffness leads first to softening of the material, while…
We present a realistic model of the fragile glass former orthoterphenyl and the results of extensive molecular dynamics simulations in which we investigated its basic static and dynamic properties. In this model the internal molecular…
The nucleation of cavities in a homogenous polymer under tensile strain is investigated in a coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulation. In order to establish a causal relation between local microstructure and the onset of cavitation, a…
We show how dynamic heterogeneities (DH), a hallmark of glass-forming materials, depend on chain flexibility and chain length in polymers. For highly flexible polymers, a relatively large number of monomers ($N_c\sim500$) undergo correlated…
To study the cooling behavior and the glass transition of polymer melts in bulk and with free surfaces a coarse-grained weakly semi-flexible polymer model is developed. Based on a standard bead spring model with purely repulsive…
We study the role of elasticity-induced facilitation on the dynamics of glass-forming liquids by a coarse-grained two-dimensional model in which local relaxation events, taking place by thermal activation, can trigger new relaxations by…
Experimental studies of the glassy slowdown in molecular liquids indicate that the high-temperature activation energy $E_{\infty}$ of glass-forming liquids is directly related to their glass transition temperature $T_{\text{g}}$. To further…
Using molecular simulations and theory, we develop an explicit mapping of the contribution of molecular relaxation modes in glassy thermosets to the shear modulus, where the relaxations were tuned by altering the polarity of side groups.…
The effect of cooling on the brittleness of glasses in general, and bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) in particular, is usually studied with continuously varying cooling rates; slower cooling rates lead to stiffer, harder, and more brittle…
Within the mode-coupling theory for idealized glass transitions, we study the evolution of structural relaxation in binary mixtures of hard spheres with size ratios $\delta$ of the two components varying between 0.5 and 1.0. We find two…
The generalized entropy theory (GET) offers many insights into how molecular parameters influence polymer glass-formation. Given the fact that chain rigidity often plays a critical role in understanding the glass-formation of polymer…
The dynamics of many glassy systems are known to exhibit string-like hopping motions each consisting of a line of particles displacing one and other. By using molecular dynamics simulations of glassy polymers, we show that these motions…
We present computer simulations of a simple bead-spring model for polymer melts with intramolecular barriers. By systematically tuning the strength of the barriers, we investigate their role on the glass transition. Dynamic observables are…
We perform molecular dynamics simulations under uniaxial tension to investigate the micromechanisms underlying strain hardening in glassy polymers. By decomposing the stress into virial components associated with pair, bond, and angle…
We study knotted polymers in equilibrium with an array of obstacles which models confinement in a gel or immersion in a melt. We find a crossover in both the geometrical and the topological behavior of the polymer. When the polymers' radius…