Entanglements and Dynamics in the Interphase Region

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Jens-Uwe Sommer
• Subject Area: Experimental and Theoretical Physics of Polymers
• Term: from 2011 to 2015
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 196292153

This projects aims to study the influence of solid surfaces on the topological and dynamical properties of longchain polymer melts with the help of fast Monte Carlo simulation methods. Using novel coding techniques of the bond fluctuation model on graphical processor units we will compare the entanglement properties and dynamics between the bulk and the interphase region close to solid surfaces. Our method allows the simulation of chain length of several thousands of Kuhn segments comparable to long chain melts (>100 kg/Mol for Polyethylene, > 1000 kg/mol Polystyrene) on accessible computational time scales. We want to characterize the structural and dynamical length scales which determine the interphase region for polymer melts in contact with solid surfaces by using several approaches to calculate the entanglement properties and to study various dynamical properties. Furthermore, we will study the influence of short range surface attraction on these properties as well as the impact of crosslinking. As a limiting case we will consider thin films confined between two surfaces to clarify the question about the range of the interphase region with respect to the entanglement and dynamical properties.

• DFG Programme: Priority Programmes
• Subproject of: SPP 1369: Polymer Solid Contacts: Interfaces and Interphases
• Participating Person: Dr. Michael Lang