Deformation of polymer films by bending forces

By means of computer simulation, we study the deformation of nanoscale polymer films under the action of external bending forces. The polymer is represented by a generalized bead-spring model, intended to reproduce characteristic features of n-alkanes. The film is loaded by the action of a prismatic...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThin solid films Vol. 295; no. 1; pp. 199 - 205
Main Authors Pätzold, Gerald, Hapke, Thorsten, Linke, Andreas, Heermann, Dieter W.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Elsevier B.V 28.02.1997
Subjects
Amorphous materials
Computer simulation
Hardness
Polymers
Amorphous materials
Computer simulation
Hardness
Polymers
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Summary:By means of computer simulation, we study the deformation of nanoscale polymer films under the action of external bending forces. The polymer is represented by a generalized bead-spring model, intended to reproduce characteristic features of n-alkanes. The film is loaded by the action of a prismatic blade which is pressed into the polymer bulk from above and a pair of columns which support the film from below. The interaction between blade and support columns and the polymer is modelled by the repulsive part of a Lennard-Jones potential. For different system sizes as well as for different chain lengths, this nanoscale experiment is simulated by molecular dynamics methods. Our results allow us to give a first characterization of deformed states for such films. We resolve the kinetic and the dynamic stage of the deformation process in time and access the length scale between discrete particle and continuum mechanics behaviour. For the chain lengths considered here, we find that the deformation process is dominated by shear. We observe strangling effects for the film and deformation fluctuations in the steady state.
ISSN:0040-6090
1879-2731
DOI:10.1016/S0040-6090(96)09308-X