Numerical study of a slip-link model for polymer melts and nanocomposites

TL;DR

This paper numerically investigates a slip link model for dense polymer melts, exploring its rheological properties, effects of parameters, and extending it to inhomogeneous nanocomposite systems with excluded volume interactions.

Contribution

It extends the slip link model to include inhomogeneities and nanocomposites, providing a simple alternative to molecular dynamics for complex polymer systems.

Findings

Relaxation modulus depends on slip link density and stiffness.

Nonlinear rheological properties are characterized for specific parameters.

Excluded volume interactions enable modeling of inhomogeneous nanocomposites.

Abstract

We present a numerical study of the slip link model introduced by Likhtman for describing the dy- namics of dense polymer melts. After reviewing the technical aspects associated with the implemen- tation of the model, we extend previous work in several directions. The dependence of the relaxation modulus with the slip link density and the slip link stiffness is reported. Then the nonlinear rheolog- ical properties of the model, for a particular set of parameters, are explored. Finally, we introduce excluded volume interactions in a mean field such as manner in order to describe inhomogeneous systems, and we apply this description to a simple nanocomposite model. With this extension, the slip link model appears as a simple and generic model of a polymer melt, that can be used as an alternative to molecular dynamics for coarse grained simulations of complex polymeric systems.