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http://www.complexfluids.ethz.ch/snf19 This project is supported by the Swiss National Supercomputing Centre
We study the time correlation functions of coupled linear Langevin dynamics with and without inertial effects, both analytically and numerically. The model equation represents the physical behavior of a harmonic oscillator in two or three dimensions in the presence of friction, additive noise, and an external field with both rotational and deformational components. This simple model plays pivotal roles in understanding more complicated processes. The analytical solution presented serves as a test of numerical integration schemes, and its derivation is presented in a fashion that allows it to be repeated directly in a classroom. While the results in the absence of fields (equilibrium) or confinement (free particle) are omnipresent in the literature, we write down, apparently for the first time, the full nonequilibriurn results that may correspond, e.g., to a Hookean dumbbell embedded in a macroscopically homogeneous shear or mixed flow field. We demonstrate how the inertial results reduce to their noninertial counterparts in the nontrivial limit of vanishing mass. While the results are derived using basic integrations over Dirac delta distributions, we also provide alternative approaches involving (i) Fourier transforms, which seem advantageous only if the measured quantities also reside in Fourier space, and (ii) a Fokker-Planck equation and the moments of the probability distribution. The results, verified by numerical experiments, provide additional means of measuring the performance of numerical methods for such systems. It should be emphasized that this article provides specific details regarding the derivations of the time correlation functions as well as the implementations of various numerical methods, so that it can serve as a standalone piece for lessons in the framework of Ito stochastic differential equations and calculus. [Shang, Xiaocheng; Kroger, Martin] Swiss Fed Inst Technol, Dept Mat, Polymer Phys, Leopold Ruzicka Weg 4, CH-8093 Zurich, Switzerland. [Shang, Xiaocheng] Univ Birmingham, Sch Math, Birmingham B15 2TT, W Midlands, England. Shang, XC (corresponding author), Swiss Fed Inst Technol, Dept Mat, Polymer Phys, Leopold Ruzicka Weg 4, CH-8093 Zurich, Switzerland.; Shang, XC (corresponding author), Univ Birmingham, Sch Math, Birmingham B15 2TT, W Midlands, England. x.shang.1@bham.ac.uk; mk@mat.ethz.ch [hide]
Principal Investigators
Argyrios Karatrantos (PI)
Institute of Science and Technology, Luxembourg ►
Martin Kröger (PI)
Polymer Physics, ETH Zurich, Switzerland ►
Project Partners
Clement Mugemana
Institute of Science and Technology, Luxembourg ►
Jeremy Odent
Laboratory of polymeric and composite materials, Mons University, Belgium ►
Scientific Staff
Ahmad Moghimikheirabadi
Polymer Physics, ETH Zurich, Switzerland ►
Secretary
Patricia Horn
Polymer Physics, ETH Zurich, Switzerland ►
Enjoy your reading
M Kroger,
Developments in Polymer Theory and Simulation
POLYMERS English 12 (2020) 30 ►Selected conferences (co-)organized by project members
3rd Global Summit Nanotechnology & Nanomedicine
Sep 2019, 3rd Global Summit Nanotechnology & Nanomedicine, Barcelona, Spain ►
learn more ►
About this project
Fundamentally important to the processability and the material properties of polymer nanocomposites is the underlying interaction between polymer and nanoparticles, the resulting structure and dynamics. A high degree of nanoparticle dispersion is necessary for an effective reinforcement in a polymer matrix. A recent experimental approach to distributing nanoparticles into a polymer matrix is to let the interaction between nanoparticles and polymer chains to be of ionic nature.Ionic nanoparticles can impart charged polymers with unique mechanical and functional properties such as self-healing and shape memory. Upon studying a single model nanocomposite via molecular simulation, we found that nanoparticle dispersion can indeed be achieved due to the insertion of electrostatic charge, that nanoparticle diffusion slows down due to this electrostatic charge, and that the ionic nanoparticles move according to a hopping mechanism.
These recent findings have the potential to spur new studies in modelling ionic polymer nanocomposites containing ionic functionalized silica nanoparticles.
We hereby propose to focus in a more detailed and conclusive fashion on four combined experimental/theoretical research objectives:
Investigate the role of ionic interactions and calculate viscoelastic properties (viscosity, storage modulus, loss modulus) with nanoparticle loading, for differently charged and sequenced polymers.
Quantify the lifetime of dynamic crosslinks between nanoparticles and polymers, formed in ionic nanocomposites, during deformation processes.
Calculate the dynamics and structure of polymers and their entanglements for differently charged and filled polymer ionic nanocomposite models,
Resolve the role of nanosilica surface confinement on polymer entanglements and dynamics. The novelty of the proposed work stems from the combination of experiments, simulation and theoretical models to capture the interactions and polymer structural/dynamical, as well as rheological phenomena present in these ionic nanocomposites, who seem to offer qualitatively new properties worth being quantified and supplemented with an informed microscopic picture.
Lay-Summary (German only, as required by SNF)Hintergrund: Polymer-Nanokomposite (PNCs) stellen eine zunehmend wichtige Hybrid-Materialklasse dar. Das fehlende Verständnis der chemischen und physikalischen Mechanismen stellt seit Jahrzehnten ein Hindernis bei der weiteren Entwicklung dar. Für die Verarbeitung und die Eigenschaften von PNCs ist die Wechselwirkung zwischen Polymer und Nanoteilchen, sowie die resultierende Struktur und Dynamik von fundamentalem Interesse. Eine gute Dispersion der Nanoteilchen wird für die effiziente Verst&aauml;rkung von Polymer-Muttergewebe benötigt. Einer der neueren Ansätze, die diese Eigenschaft bewerkstelligen soll, ist die Verwendung von ionischen PNCs. Ionische Nanoteilchen können den ionischen Polymeren zudem neuartige mechanische und funktionelle Eigenschaften verleihen. Inhalt und Ziel des Forschungsprojekts ist ein besseres Verstädnis der ionischen PNCs. Dazu untersuchen wir die (i) Rolle von ionischen Wechselwirkungen und berechnen viskoelastische/mechanische Eigenschaften und ihre Abhäigkeit von System-Parametern (Konzentration, Ladungen, Ladungs-Sequenzen); (ii) Lebensdauer von Vernetzungspunkten in PNCs, isbesondere während Deformationsprozessen; (iii) Dynamik und Struktur der Polymere und deren Verschlaufungs-Netzwerke in Abhängigkeit der Ladungs-Sequenz; (iv) Rolle der Oberflächen-Beschaffenheit von Nano-Silikaten. Wissenschaftlicher und gesellschaftlicher Kontext des Forschungsprojekts. Wir möchten neuen Technologien für PNCs den Weg bereiten, die benötigt werden, um leichte, hoch-qualitative, und multifunktionelle Materialien weiter zu entwickeln. Ionische PNCs verprechen nicht nur die genannten mechanischen Eigenschaften, sondern auch ein Potential für Selstheilung, ionische Leitfähigkeit, und selektive Permeabilitä Simulationsmodelle erlauben uns, die genannten Abhäigkeiten im Detail zu untersuchen, und öffnen eue Horizonte für das Design ionischer PNCs für Anwendungen etwa in der Biomedizin, Biotechnologie, Energiespeicherung, Gastrennung.
04 May 2025
mk