Branches, Tie Chains and Entanglements in Bimodal Polyethylene Single Crystals under Uniaxial Tensile Strain

Fuente: arXiv
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Autores principales: Fall, William S., Baschnagel, Jörg, Meyer, Hendrik
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2024
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author Fall, William S.
Baschnagel, Jörg
Meyer, Hendrik
author_facet Fall, William S.
Baschnagel, Jörg
Meyer, Hendrik
contents Using coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations and a united-monomer model of PE, single well-aligned multi-lamella PE crystals grown in previous work [ACS Macro Letters 12, 808 (2023)] are deformed uniaxially to mimic tensile testing. During deformation, the crystallinity, tie-chain segments, entanglements and folds are monitored and correlated with the stress-strain behaviour and mechanical properties. At small strains, the single well-aligned PE crystals reveal a larger Young modulus when the deformation direction is perpendicular to the global stem direction. At large strains, the memory of the initial topology plays little role in the mechanical response and is observed to be completely destroyed. Short chain branching appears to suppress disentanglement and shear induced alignment of the chains during deformation. As a result, tie-chains and entanglements persist in branched systems and the peak stress at failure is found to be proportional to the change in number of tie-chains from the beginning of the brittle break to its end. Our findings suggest the remarkable mechanical properties of bimodal branched PE result directly from tie-chains, with entanglements playing a secondary role in the mechanical response.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2409_08399
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Branches, Tie Chains and Entanglements in Bimodal Polyethylene Single Crystals under Uniaxial Tensile Strain
Fall, William S.
Baschnagel, Jörg
Meyer, Hendrik
Soft Condensed Matter
Materials Science
Using coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations and a united-monomer model of PE, single well-aligned multi-lamella PE crystals grown in previous work [ACS Macro Letters 12, 808 (2023)] are deformed uniaxially to mimic tensile testing. During deformation, the crystallinity, tie-chain segments, entanglements and folds are monitored and correlated with the stress-strain behaviour and mechanical properties. At small strains, the single well-aligned PE crystals reveal a larger Young modulus when the deformation direction is perpendicular to the global stem direction. At large strains, the memory of the initial topology plays little role in the mechanical response and is observed to be completely destroyed. Short chain branching appears to suppress disentanglement and shear induced alignment of the chains during deformation. As a result, tie-chains and entanglements persist in branched systems and the peak stress at failure is found to be proportional to the change in number of tie-chains from the beginning of the brittle break to its end. Our findings suggest the remarkable mechanical properties of bimodal branched PE result directly from tie-chains, with entanglements playing a secondary role in the mechanical response.
title Branches, Tie Chains and Entanglements in Bimodal Polyethylene Single Crystals under Uniaxial Tensile Strain
topic Soft Condensed Matter
Materials Science
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2409.08399