Premium
Percolation of Trace Amounts of Linear Polymers in Melts of Cyclic Polymers
Author(s) -
Vasquez Rafael,
Shanbhag Sachin
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
macromolecular theory and simulations
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.37
H-Index - 56
eISSN - 1521-3919
pISSN - 1022-1344
DOI - 10.1002/mats.201000080
Subject(s) - percolation (cognitive psychology) , polymer , percolation threshold , rheology , linear polymer , trace (psycholinguistics) , percolation theory , chain (unit) , chemical physics , statistical physics , materials science , chemistry , thermodynamics , physics , organic chemistry , electrical resistivity and conductivity , conductivity , linguistics , philosophy , quantum mechanics , astronomy , neuroscience , biology
Melts of CPs, intentionally contaminated with small fractions of LPs, are studied using the bond fluctuation model to probe the extreme sensitivity of the rheology to trace amounts of linear chains. Using primitive path analysis to compute the number of entanglements on the molecules, the threshold concentration at which LPs percolate through the system is calculated using a mean‐field theory. It is found that the percolation threshold decreases with the molecular weight, and is approximately 25–30 times smaller than the overlap concentration of the linear chains for the longest polymers studied. These simulations help to understand and justify the approximations made in earlier theoretical investigations.