Molecular dynamics simulation of solvent-polymer interdiffusion: Fickian diffusion

M Tsige and GS Grest, JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL PHYSICS, 120, 2989-2995 (2004).

DOI: 10.1063/1.1640347

The interdiffusion of a solvent into a polymer melt has been studied using large scale molecular dynamics and Monte Carlo simulation techniques. The solvent concentration profile and weight gain by the polymer have been measured as a function of time. The weight gain is found to scale as t(1/2), which is expected for Fickian diffusion. The concentration profiles are fit very well assuming Fick's second law with a constant diffusivity. The diffusivity found from fitting Fick's second law is found to be independent of time and equal to the self-diffusion constant in the dilute solvent limit. We separately calculated the diffusivity as a function of concentration using the Darken equation and found that the diffusivity is essentially constant for the concentration range relevant for interdiffusion. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.

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