Nanoparticle Motion in Entangled Melts of Linear and Nonconcatenated Ring Polymers.

ABSTRACT: The motion of nanoparticles (NPs) in entangled melts of linear polymers and nonconcatenated ring polymers are compared by large-scale molecular dynamics simulations. The comparison provides a paradigm for the effects of polymer architecture on the dynamical coupling between NPs and polymers in nanocomposites. Strongly suppressed motion of NPs with diameter d larger than the entanglement spacing a is observed in a melt of linear polymers before the onset of Fickian NP diffusion. This strong suppression of NP motion occurs progressively as d exceeds a and is related to the hopping diffusion of NPs in the entanglement network. In contrast to the NP motion in linear polymers, the motion of NPs with d > a in ring polymers is not as strongly suppressed p

SUBMITTER: Ge T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5379250 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature