Coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations of ionic polymer networks

TE Dirama and V Varshney and KL Anderson and JA Shumaker and JA Johnson, MECHANICS OF TIME-DEPENDENT MATERIALS, 12, 205-220 (2008).

DOI: 10.1007/s11043-008-9058-5

The stress-strain behavior of cross-linked polymeric networks was investigated using molecular dynamics simulations with a coarse-grained representation of the repeating units. The network structure was formed by dynamically cross-linking the reactants placed between two rigid layers comprised of particles of the same type. We studied two types of networks which differ only by one containing ionic pairs that amount to 7% of the total number of bonds present. The stress-strain curves were obtained after imposing deformation in tensile and shear modes to the networks and measuring their stress response. Under both forms of deformations there was improvement in the level of stress that the material could bear. Moreover, the time dependent behavior of the improvement in mechanical properties signified a self-healing mechanism.

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