Regensburg 2004 – scientific programme
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CPP: Chemische Physik und Polymerphysik
CPP 8: Physics of Polymers II
CPP 8.5: Talk
Monday, March 8, 2004, 16:45–17:00, H 37
Strain-dependent localization, microscopic deformations, andmacroscopic normal tensions in model polymer networks — •Carsten Svaneborg1, Gary S. Grest2, and Ralf Everaers1 — 1Max-Planck-Institut für Physik komplexer Systeme, Nöthnitzerstr. 38, 01187 Dresden, Germany — 2Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87185, USA
We use Molecular Dynamics simulations to characterize the microscopic and macroscopic response of a polymer network to an imposed macroscopic strain. Our motivation is to provide a framework for the quantitative test and the controlled development of statistical mechanical theories of rubber elasticity as well as for the validation of critical steps in the data analysis of experiments addressing these issues. We present a quantitative test of various tube models of rubber elasticity and show that recent theory by Mergell and Everaers is quite successful in rationalizing the observed behavior. By accounting for localization effects due to chemical crosslinks and entanglements, the theory is able to describe the length scale dependent microscopic deformations and to predict the elastic response of the network. We also discuss the interpretation of neutron scattering data for labelled paths through model polymer networks.