Karatrantos, A., Clarke, N., Composto, R.J. et al. (1 more author) (2016) Entanglements in polymer nanocomposites containing spherical nanoparticles. Soft Matter, 12 (9). pp. 2567-2574. ISSN 1744-683X
Abstract
We investigate the polymer packing around nanoparticles and polymer/nanoparticle topological constraints (entanglements) in nanocomposites containing spherical nanoparticles in comparison to pure polymer melts using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The polymer–nanoparticle attraction leads to good dispersion of nanoparticles. We observe an increase in the number of topological constraints (decrease of total entanglement length Ne with nanoparticle loading in the polymer matrix) in nanocomposites due to nanoparticles, as evidenced by larger contour lengths of the primitive paths. An increase of the nanoparticle radius reduces the polymer–particle entanglements. These studies demonstrate that the interaction between polymers and nanoparticles does not affect the total entanglement length because in nanocomposites with small nanoparticles, the polymer–nanoparticles topological constraints dominate
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2016. This Open Access Article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 12 Jul 2016 10:51 |
Last Modified: | 12 Jul 2016 10:56 |
Published Version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/C5SM02010G |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Royal Society of Chemistry |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1039/C5SM02010G |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:101280 |