Lamellar Phase Stability in Diblock Copolymers under Oscillatory Shear Flows

Density and concentration field description of nonperiodic structures

We propose a simple nonlocal energy functional that is suitable for the continuum field characterization of nonperiodic and localized textures. The phenomenological functional is based on the pairwise direction-dependent interaction of field gradients that are separated by a fixed distance. In an appendix, we describe the numerical minimization of our functional. On that basis, we investigate the kinetic evolution of threadlike stripe patterns that are created by the functional when we start from an initially disordered state. At later stages, we find a coarse graining that shows the same scaling behavior as was obtained for the Cahn-Hilliard equation. In fact, the Cahn-Hilliard model is contained in our characterization as a limiting case. A slight modification of our model omits this coarse graining and leads to nonperiodic stripe phases. For the latter case, we investigate the temporal evolution of the defects (end points) of the threadlike stripes. In view of actual applications of this functional, we discuss the characterization of processes observed for polymeric systems and vesicles. The statistics of the growth of the threadlike structures is compared to the case of step-growth polymerization reactions. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the functional may be applied for the study of vesicles in a continuum field description. Basic features, such as the tendency of tank treading in simple shear flows and parachute folding in pipe flows, are reproduced.

Nonequilibrium molecular dynamics simulation study on the orientation transition in the amphiphilic lamellar phase under shear flow

By the extensive large-scale nonequilibrium molecular dynamics simulation on an effective generic model-A2B2 tetramer for amphiphiles, we investigate the shear-induced parallel to perpendicular orientation transition in the lamellar phase as a function of segregation degree and shear rate. Under low rate shear flow the evolution of parallel lamellar configurations at different segregation strengths shows a similar kinetic pathway independent of the segregation degree. While under high rate shear flow in which the lifetime of undulation instability exceeds the characteristic time of the applied shear flow, the kinetic pathway of the shear-induced parallel-to-perpendicular orientation transition in lamellar systems is the segregation degree dependent. Comparing the temporal mesoscopic domain morphology, the microscopic chain conformation, and macroscopic observable-viscosity changes with the experimentally proposed mechanisms, we find that the undulation instability, partial breakup of monodomain, grain rotation, and recombination combined with defect migration and annihilation are the kinetic pathway for the parallel-to-perpendicular orientation transition in the lamellar phase in or near the intermediate segregation limit, and that the undulation instability, domain dissolution, and reformation along the preferred direction combined with defect migration and annihilation are the kinetic pathway for the parallel-to-perpendicular orientation transition in the lamellar phase close to the order-to-disorder phase transition point. A detailed underlying microscopic picture of the alignment process illustrates that the orientation transition is driven by the alignment of molecules with shear flow. The orientation diagram that characterizes the steady-state orientations as a function of shear rate and attractive potential depth is built, in which the attractive potential depth takes the role of an inverse temperature, somewhat like the Flory-Huggins interaction parameter. The microscopic mechanism of the critical orientation transition condition is discussed.

Shear-induced parallel-to-perpendicular orientation transition in the amphiphilic lamellar phase: A nonequilibrium molecular-dynamics simulation study

The present work is devoted to a study of the shear-induced parallel-to-perpendicular orientation transition in the lamellar system by the large-scale nonequilibrium molecular-dynamics (NEMD) simulation. An effective generic model-A2B2 tetramer for amphiphilies is used. The NEMD simulation produces unambiguous evidence that undulation instability along the vorticity direction sets in well above a critical shear rate and grows in magnitude as the shear rate is further increased. At a certain high shear rate, the coherent undulation instability grows so large that defects are nucleated and the global lamellar monodomain breaks into several aligned lamellar domains. Subsequently layers in these domains rotate into the perpendicular orientation with the rotation of chains towards the y direction, merge into a global perpendicular-aligned lamellar monodomain, and organize into a perfect well-aligned perpendicular lamellar phase by the migration and annihilation of edge dislocations and disclinations. The macroscopic observable viscosity as a function of time or shear rate is correlated with the structural response such as the mesoscopic domain morphology and the microscopic chain conformation. The onset of undulation instability concurs with the start-up of shear-thinning behavior. During the orientation transformation at the high shear rate, the complex time-dependent thixotropic behavior is observed. The smaller viscosity in the perpendicular lamellar phase gives an energetic reason for the shear-induced orientation transition.

Shear alignments in three-dimensional simulations of lamellar phases

Experiments studying layer orientation of sheared lamellar phases have consistently observed not only the seemingly obvious parallel orientation (with layers parallel to the shear plane), but also the so called perpendicular orientation (with layer normals along the vorticity direction) at the condition of higher shear frequencies and near the lamellar phase transition. We find that three-dimensional simulations of a deterministic mesoscopic dynamical equation (without thermal fluctuations) under the convection of simple shear flows have shown exactly such a dependence. The simulations show the important role played by the transverse orientation (layer normal along the velocity direction) and highlight the mechanism of the shear alignment being the competition between the shear frequency and the mesoscopic time scale of pattern organization.

Viscoelastic response of diblock copolymers to oscillatory shear

A mesoscopic model for diblock copolymers is combined with a simple rheological description of the viscoelastic contrast of its two phases. Under oscillatory shear the contrast generates secondary velocity fields and substantial deviations of volume-averaged flow parameters. The validity of our analytical findings is tested with three-dimensional numerical simulations. Furthermore, we consider the effect of advection by the generated flows on the stability of ordered lamellar states and propose a new criterion for the selection of orientations.

Dislocation dynamics in Rayleigh-Bénard convection

Theoretical results on the dynamics of dislocations in Rayleigh-Bénard convection are reported both for a Swift-Hohenberg model and the Oberbeck-Boussinesq equations. For intermediate Prandtl numbers the motion of dislocations is found to be driven by the superposition of two independent contributions: (i) the Peach-Koehler force and (ii) an advection force on the dislocation core by its self-generated mean flow. Their competition allows to explain the experimentally observed bound dislocation pairs.

Shear-induced grain boundary motion for lamellar phases in the weakly nonlinear regime

We study the effect of an externally imposed oscillatory shear on the motion of a grain boundary that separates differently oriented domains of the lamellar phase of a diblock copolymer. A direct numerical solution of the Swift-Hohenberg equation in shear flow is used for the case of a transverse/parallel grain boundary in the limits of weak nonlinearity and low shear frequency. We focus on the region of parameters in which both transverse and parallel lamellae are linearly stable. Shearing leads to excess free energy in the transverse region relative to the parallel region, which is in turn dissipated by net motion of the boundary toward the transverse region. The observed boundary motion is a combination of rigid advection by the flow and order parameter diffusion. The latter includes break up and reconnection of lamellae, as well as a weak Eckhaus instability in the boundary region for sufficiently large strain amplitude that leads to slow wave number readjustment. The net average velocity is seen to increase with frequency and strain amplitude, and can be obtained by a multiple scale expansion of the governing equations.