Mechanical Properties of Interlocked-ring Polymers: A Molecular Dynamics Simulation Study

ZT Wu and JJ Zhou, CHINESE JOURNAL OF POLYMER SCIENCE, 37, 1298-1304 (2019).

DOI: 10.1007/s10118-019-2279-z

Interlocked-ring polymers, also known as polycatenanes, possess an interesting molecular architecture. These polymers are composed of many interlocked rings in a linear chain. The topological constrain between neighboring rings distinguishes the interlocked-ring polymer from its linear counterpart. Here we present extensive molecular dynamic simulations on the interlocked-ring polymers and analyze the static properties of the polymer. By applying external forces to the polymer, we also study the force-extension curves of the polymer, which provides rich information about the mechanical properties of the interlockedring polymers.

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