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Reda H, Katsamba P, Chazirakis A, Harmandaris V. Probing the Linear-to-Plastic Transition in Polymer Nanocomposites via Atomistic Simulations: The Role of Interphases. Macromol Rapid Commun 2024:e2400612. [PMID: 39292818 DOI: 10.1002/marc.202400612] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2024] [Revised: 09/04/2024] [Indexed: 09/20/2024]
Abstract
Polymer nanocomposites have found ubiquitous use across diverse industries, attributable to their distinctive properties and enhanced mechanical performance compared to conventional materials. Elucidating the elastic-to-plastic transition in polymer nanocomposites under diverse mechanical loads is paramount for the bespoke design of materials with desired mechanical attributes. In the current work, the elastic-to-plastic transition is probed in model systems of polyethylene oxide (PEO) and silica, SiO2, nanoparticles, through detailed atomistic molecular dynamics simulations. This comprehensive, multi-scale analysis unveils pivotal markers of the elastic-to-plastic transition, highlighting the quintessential role of microstructural and regional heterogeneities in density, strain, and stress fields, featuring the polymer-nanoparticle interphase region. At the atomic level, the behavior of polymer chains interacting with nanoparticle surfaces is traced, differentiating between free and adsorbed chains, and identifying the microscopic origins of the linear-to-plastic transition. The mechanical behavior of subregions are characterized within the PEO/SiO2 nanocomposites, focusing on the interphase and bulk-like polymer areas, probing stress heterogeneities and their decomposition into various force contributions. At the inception of plasticity, a disruption is discerned in isotropy of the polymeric density field, the emergence of low-density regions, and microscopic voids/cavities within the polymer matrix concomitant with a transition of adsorbed chains to free. The yield strain also emerges as an inflection point in the local versus global strain diagram, demarcating the elastic limit, and the plastic regime shows pronounced strain heterogeneities. The decomposition of the atomic Virial stress into bonded and non-bonded interactions indicates that the rigidity of the material is primarily governed by non-bonded interactions, significantly influenced by the volume fraction of the nanoparticle. These findings emphasize the importance of the microstructural and micromechanical environment at the polymer-nanoparticle interface on the linear-to-plastic transition, which is of great importance in the design of nanocomposite materials with advanced mechanical properties.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hilal Reda
- Computation-based Science and Technology Research Center, The Cyprus Institute, Aglantzia, Nicosia, 2121, Cyprus
| | - Panayiota Katsamba
- Computation-based Science and Technology Research Center, The Cyprus Institute, Aglantzia, Nicosia, 2121, Cyprus
| | - Anthony Chazirakis
- Institute of Applied and Computational Mathematics, Foundation for Research and Technology - Hellas, Heraklion, GR-71110, Greece
| | - Vagelis Harmandaris
- Computation-based Science and Technology Research Center, The Cyprus Institute, Aglantzia, Nicosia, 2121, Cyprus
- Institute of Applied and Computational Mathematics, Foundation for Research and Technology - Hellas, Heraklion, GR-71110, Greece
- Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics, University of Crete, Heraklion, GR-71110, Greece
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Ye Z, Zhang H, Riggleman RA. Local dynamics and failure of inhomogeneous polymer networks. SOFT MATTER 2024; 20:4734-4743. [PMID: 38836817 DOI: 10.1039/d4sm00087k] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/06/2024]
Abstract
Inhomogeneous crosslinked polymers are powerful platforms for materials design, because they can be synthesized from materials that provide complimentary properties to the resulting gel. For example, a membrane with both glassy and rubbery domains will be mechanically robust while enabling transport. The dynamics, and mechanical and failure properties of rubbery/glassy conetworks are only beginning to be studied, and there is likely to be strong heterogeneities in the dynamics and mechanical response. In this study, we use coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations to generate microphase separated rubbery/glassy polymer networks with a bicontinuous morphology via in silico crosslinking. We study the effect of phase boundary on the local mobility gradient, and our simulation results reveal an asymmetric shift in the local mobility gradient across the interface that extends deeper into the phase with a lower Tg when the system temperature is between the glass transition temperatures of the two phases. Moreover, by employing a model that allows bond breaking, we examine the microscopic mechanism for failure in these networks as a function of the molecular weight of polymer strands between crosslinks and the number fraction of the glassy domain. Under uniaxial extension, we find that the stress is initially larger in the glassy domain. As the deformation proceeds, the segmental dynamics of the two phases homogenize, and subsequently bond breaking begins.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ziyu Ye
- Department of Chemistry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - Han Zhang
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
| | - Robert A Riggleman
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
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Chu W, Webb MA, Deng C, Colón YJ, Kambe Y, Krishnan S, Nealey PF, de Pablo JJ. Understanding Ion Mobility in P2VP/NMP+I– Polymer Electrolytes: A Combined Simulation and Experimental Study. Macromolecules 2020. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.9b02329] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Weiwei Chu
- Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, United States
| | - Michael A. Webb
- Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, United States
| | - Chuting Deng
- Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, United States
| | - Yamil J. Colón
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556, United States
| | - Yu Kambe
- Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, United States
- Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 70439, United States
| | - Satya Krishnan
- Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, United States
| | - Paul F. Nealey
- Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, United States
- Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 70439, United States
| | - Juan J. de Pablo
- Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, United States
- Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 70439, United States
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Bowman A, Mun S, Nouranian S, Huddleston B, Gwaltney S, Baskes M, Horstemeyer M. Free volume and internal structural evolution during creep in model amorphous polyethylene by Molecular Dynamics simulations. POLYMER 2019. [DOI: 10.1016/j.polymer.2019.02.060] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
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Vogiatzis GG, Theodorou DN. Multiscale Molecular Simulations of Polymer-Matrix Nanocomposites: or What Molecular Simulations Have Taught us About the Fascinating Nanoworld. ARCHIVES OF COMPUTATIONAL METHODS IN ENGINEERING : STATE OF THE ART REVIEWS 2017; 25:591-645. [PMID: 29962833 PMCID: PMC6003436 DOI: 10.1007/s11831-016-9207-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/08/2016] [Accepted: 12/20/2016] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
Following the substantial progress in molecular simulations of polymer-matrix nanocomposites, now is the time to reconsider this topic from a critical point of view. A comprehensive survey is reported herein providing an overview of classical molecular simulations, reviewing their major achievements in modeling polymer matrix nanocomposites, and identifying several open challenges. Molecular simulations at multiple length and time scales, working hand-in-hand with sensitive experiments, have enhanced our understanding of how nanofillers alter the structure, dynamics, thermodynamics, rheology and mechanical properties of the surrounding polymer matrices.
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Affiliation(s)
- Georgios G. Vogiatzis
- School of Chemical Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, 9 Heroon Polytechniou Street, Zografou Campus, 15780 Athens, Greece
- Present Address: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Eindhoven University of Technology, PO Box 513, 5600MB Eindhoven, The Netherlands
| | - Doros N. Theodorou
- School of Chemical Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, 9 Heroon Polytechniou Street, Zografou Campus, 15780 Athens, Greece
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Khabaz F, Mani S, Khare R. Molecular Origins of Dynamic Coupling between Water and Hydrated Polyacrylate Gels. Macromolecules 2016. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.6b00938] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Fardin Khabaz
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Texas Tech University, Box 43121, Lubbock, Texas 79409-3121, United States
| | - Sriramvignesh Mani
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Texas Tech University, Box 43121, Lubbock, Texas 79409-3121, United States
| | - Rajesh Khare
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Texas Tech University, Box 43121, Lubbock, Texas 79409-3121, United States
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Rasin B, Chao H, Jiang G, Wang D, Riggleman RA, Composto RJ. Dispersion and alignment of nanorods in cylindrical block copolymer thin films. SOFT MATTER 2016; 12:2177-2185. [PMID: 26777462 DOI: 10.1039/c5sm02442k] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/05/2023]
Abstract
Although significant progress has been made in controlling the dispersion of spherical nanoparticles in block copolymer thin films, our ability to disperse and control the assembly of anisotropic nanoparticles into well-defined structures is lacking in comparison. Here we use a combination of experiments and field theoretic simulations to examine the assembly of gold nanorods (AuNRs) in a block copolymer. Experimentally, poly(2-vinylpyridine)-grafted AuNRs (P2VP-AuNRs) are incorporated into poly(styrene)-b-poly(2-vinylpyridine) (PS-b-P2VP) thin films with a vertical cylinder morphology. At sufficiently low concentrations, the AuNRs disperse in the block copolymer thin film. For these dispersed AuNR systems, atomic force microscopy combined with sequential ultraviolet ozone etching indicates that the P2VP-AuNRs segregate to the base of the P2VP cylinders. Furthermore, top-down transmission electron microscopy imaging shows that the P2VP-AuNRs mainly lie parallel to the substrate. Our field theoretic simulations indicate that the NRs are strongly attracted to the cylinder base where they can relieve the local stretching of the minority block of the copolymer. These simulations also indicate conditions that will drive AuNRs to adopt a vertical orientation, namely by increasing nanorod length and/or reducing the wetting of the short block towards the substrate.
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Affiliation(s)
- Boris Rasin
- Materials Science and Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
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Nonlinear stress relaxation behavior of ductile polymer glasses from large extension and compression. POLYMER 2015. [DOI: 10.1016/j.polymer.2015.11.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
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Gao Y, Cao D, Liu J, Shen J, Wu Y, Zhang L. Molecular dynamics simulation of the conductivity mechanism of nanorod filled polymer nanocomposites. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2015; 17:22959-68. [PMID: 26267833 DOI: 10.1039/c5cp01953b] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/28/2022]
Abstract
We adopted molecular dynamics simulation to study the conductive property of nanorod-filled polymer nanocomposites by focusing on the effects of the interfacial interaction, aspect ratio of the fillers, external shear field, filler-filler interaction and temperature. The variation of the percolation threshold is anti N-type with increasing interfacial interaction. It decreases with an increase in the aspect ratio. At an intermediate filler-filler interaction, a minimum percolation threshold appears. The percolation threshold decreases to a plateau with temperature. At low interfacial interaction, the effect of an external shear field on the homogeneous probability is negligible; however, the directional probability increases with shear rate. Moreover, the difference in conductivity probabilities is reduced for different interfacial interactions under shear. Under shear, the decrease or increase of conductivity probability depends on the initial dispersion state. However, the steady-state conductivity is independent of the initial state for different interfacial interactions. In particular, the evolution of the conductivity network structure under shear is investigated. In short, this study may provide rational tuning methods to obtain nanorod-filled polymer nanocomposites with high conductivity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yangyang Gao
- Key Laboratory of Beijing City on Preparation and Processing of Novel Polymer Materials, People's Republic of China.
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Ondreas F, Jancar J. Temperature, Frequency, and Small Static Stress Dependence of the Molecular Mobility in Deformed Amorphous Polymers near Their Glass Transition. Macromolecules 2015. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.5b00550] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | - Josef Jancar
- CEITEC, Brno University of Technology, 616 00 Brno, Czech Republic
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Batistakis C, Michels MAJ, Lyulin AV. Confinement-Induced Stiffening of Thin Elastomer Films: Linear and Nonlinear Mechanics vs Local Dynamics. Macromolecules 2014. [DOI: 10.1021/ma5003744] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Chrysostomos Batistakis
- Theory
of Polymers and Soft Matter (TPS), Department of Applied Physics, Eindhoven University of Technology, P.O. Box 513, 5600 MB Eindhoven, The Netherlands
- Dutch Polymer
Institute, P.O. Box 902, 5600 AX Eindhoven, The Netherlands
| | - M. A. J. Michels
- Theory
of Polymers and Soft Matter (TPS), Department of Applied Physics, Eindhoven University of Technology, P.O. Box 513, 5600 MB Eindhoven, The Netherlands
| | - Alexey V. Lyulin
- Theory
of Polymers and Soft Matter (TPS), Department of Applied Physics, Eindhoven University of Technology, P.O. Box 513, 5600 MB Eindhoven, The Netherlands
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Koski J, Chao H, Riggleman RA. Field theoretic simulations of polymer nanocomposites. J Chem Phys 2013; 139:244911. [DOI: 10.1063/1.4853755] [Citation(s) in RCA: 63] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/02/2023] Open
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13
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Chao H, Riggleman RA. Effect of particle size and grafting density on the mechanical properties of polymer nanocomposites. POLYMER 2013. [DOI: 10.1016/j.polymer.2013.07.018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 79] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
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