Related papers: Self-similar chain conformations in polymer gels
We present an extensive analysis of the relaxation dynamics of entangled linear polymer melts via long-time molecular dynamics simulations of a generic bead-spring model. We study the mean-squared displacements, the autocorrelation function…
The Flory theory for a single polymer chain is derived as the lowest order of a cumulant expansion. In this approach, the full original Flory free energy (including the logarithmic term), is recovered. %This term does not change the…
The nematic ordering in semiflexible polymers with contour length $L$ exceeding their persistence length $\ell_p$ is described by a confinement of the polymers in a cylinder of radius $r_{eff}$ much larger than the radius $r_\rho$, expected…
Due to their unique structural and mechanical properties, randomly-crosslinked polymer networks play an important role in many different fields, ranging from cellular biology to industrial processes. In order to elucidate how these…
We study the changes in the conformations of brushes upon the addition of crosslinks between the chains using the bond fluctuation model. The Flory-Rehner model applied to uni-axially swollen networks predicts a collapse for large degrees…
We examine how the distribution of contour lengths and the high-stretch stiffening of individual chain segments affect the macroscopic shear modulus of flexible polymer gels, using a 2D numerical model, in which polymer segments form a…
Despite their considerable practical and biological applications, the link between molecular properties, assembly conditions and self-organized structure in confined polymer solutions remains elusive. Here, we explore the lyotropic nematic…
The tube model is a central concept in polymer physics, and allows to reduce the complex many-filament problem of an entangled polymer solution to a single filament description. We investigate the probability distribution function of…
We study a generic model of self-assembling chains which can branch and form networks with branching points (junctions) of arbitrary functionality. The physical realizations include physical gels, wormlike micells, dipolar fluids and…
The bond fluctuation method is used to simulate both non-concatenated entangled and interpenetrating melts of ring polymers. We find that the swelling of interpenetrating rings upon dilution follows the same laws as for linear chains.…
We study the mechanical and conformational properties of networks of helical polymers with a combination of Monte Carlo simulations based on the Wang-Landau algorithm and the Three-chain Model. We find that the stress-strain behavior of…
We performed a series of molecular dynamics simulations on monodisperse polymer melts to investigate the formation of shear banding. Under high shear rates, shear banding occurs, which is accompanied with the entanglement heterogeneity…
The swelling kinetics of charged polymer gels reflect the complex competition among elastic, mixing, and ionic contributions. Here, we used dynamic light scattering to investigate the collective diffusion coefficient of model gels, whose…
We develop a continuum theory for equilibrium elasticity of a network of crosslinked semiflexible filaments, spanning the full range between flexible entropy-driven chains to stiff athermal rods. We choose the 3-chain constitutive model…
We investigate the properties of a system of semi-diluted polymers in the presence of charged groups and counter-ions, by means of self-consistent field theory. We study a system of polyelectrolyte chains grafted to a similarly, as well as…
Polymer gels are comprised of a three-dimensional, cross-linked network that can typically withstand the mechanical deformation associated with both swelling and de-swelling. Thus, gels can be designed with smart behaviors that require both…
We study the conformations of polymer chains in a poor solvent, with and without bending rigidity, by means of a simple statistical mechanics model. This model can be exactly solved for chains of length up to N=55 using exact enumeration…
In this work we have applied the recently formulated self-compressed inhomogeneous stabilized jellium model [M. Payami and T. Mahmoodi, Can. J. Phys. {\bf 89}, 967 (2011)] to describe the equilibrium electronic and geometric properties of…
The collapse and swelling behavior of a generic homopolymer is studied using implicit-solvent, explicit-cosolvent Langevin dynamics computer simulations for varying interaction strengths. The systematic investigation reveals that polymer…
We study the scaling limit of a fully packed loop model in two dimensions, where the loops are endowed with a bending rigidity. The scaling limit is described by a three-parameter family of conformal field theories, which we characterize…