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Main Authors: Luengo-Márquez, Juan, Assenza, Salvatore, Micheletti, Cristian
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2406.13561
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author Luengo-Márquez, Juan
Assenza, Salvatore
Micheletti, Cristian
author_facet Luengo-Márquez, Juan
Assenza, Salvatore
Micheletti, Cristian
contents Mechanically bonded membranes of interlocked ring polymers are a significant generalization of conventional elastic sheets, where connectivity is provided by covalent bonding, and represent a promising class of topological meta-materials. In this context, two open questions regard the large-scale reverberations of the heterogeneous composition of the rings and the inequivalent modes of interlocking neighboring rings. We address these questions with Langevin dynamics simulations of chainmails with honeycomb-lattice connectivity, where the rings are block copolymers with two segments of different rigidity. We considered various combinations of the relative lengths of the two segments and the patterns of the over- and under-passes linking neighboring rings. We find that varying ring composition and linking patterns have independent and complementary effects. While the former sets the overall size of the chainmail, the latter defines the shape, enabling the selection of starkly different conformation types. Notably, one of the considered linking patterns favors saddle-shaped membranes, providing a first example of spontaneous negative Gaussian curvature in mechanically bonded sheets. The results help establish the extent to which mechanically bonded membranes can differ from conventional elastic membranes, particularly for the achievable shape and size tunability.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2406_13561
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Shape and Size Tunability of Sheets of Interlocked Ring Copolymers
Luengo-Márquez, Juan
Assenza, Salvatore
Micheletti, Cristian
Soft Condensed Matter
Statistical Mechanics
Mechanically bonded membranes of interlocked ring polymers are a significant generalization of conventional elastic sheets, where connectivity is provided by covalent bonding, and represent a promising class of topological meta-materials. In this context, two open questions regard the large-scale reverberations of the heterogeneous composition of the rings and the inequivalent modes of interlocking neighboring rings. We address these questions with Langevin dynamics simulations of chainmails with honeycomb-lattice connectivity, where the rings are block copolymers with two segments of different rigidity. We considered various combinations of the relative lengths of the two segments and the patterns of the over- and under-passes linking neighboring rings. We find that varying ring composition and linking patterns have independent and complementary effects. While the former sets the overall size of the chainmail, the latter defines the shape, enabling the selection of starkly different conformation types. Notably, one of the considered linking patterns favors saddle-shaped membranes, providing a first example of spontaneous negative Gaussian curvature in mechanically bonded sheets. The results help establish the extent to which mechanically bonded membranes can differ from conventional elastic membranes, particularly for the achievable shape and size tunability.
title Shape and Size Tunability of Sheets of Interlocked Ring Copolymers
topic Soft Condensed Matter
Statistical Mechanics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2406.13561