Methods for Creation and Linear Elastic Response Analysis of Packings of Semi-flexible Soft Polymer Chains

TL;DR

This paper introduces methods to create and analyze packings of semi-flexible soft polymer chains using an extended soft sphere model, enabling detailed study of their physical and elastic properties.

Contribution

It presents a novel extension of soft sphere simulations to linked spheres, allowing for the study of complex polymer packings and their mechanical behavior.

Findings

Methods to find and analyze physical properties of polymer packings

Techniques for shear stabilization and classification in the jamming hierarchy

Insights into elastic properties of polymer materials

Abstract

From understanding the sand on the beach to the foam on your beer, soft sphere simulations have been crucial to the study of the amorphous world around us. However, many of the materials we interact with on a daily basis aren't comprised of individual grains, but complex molecules and chains of polymers. By extending the soft sphere model to a model of linked spheres, we can learn more about the materials we interact with on a daily basis. In this methods paper, I show how one can find and study the physical properties of packings of flexible chains, rigid molecules, and everything in between. In addition to describing the energy landscape of these materials, these methods describe how to shear stabilize polymer packings, classify them in the jamming hierarchy, describe their elastic properties, and much more. This simple modification to soft sphere simulations has the potential to yield new discoveries surrounding glasses.