Surface Segregation of Cyclic Chains in Binary Melts of Thin Polymer Films: The Influence of Constituent Concentration

Surface Segregation of Cyclic Chains in Binary Melts of Thin Polymer Films: The Influence of Constituent Concentration

Francis M. Gaitho, Mesfin Tsige, Genene T. Mola, Giuseppe Pellicane

We carry out extensive molecular dynamics simulations of thin films of bead-spring models of binary mixtures composed of cyclic and linear polymer chains. We study the equilibrium behavior of the polymer chains for two very different chain lengths, which resemble short (10-mers) and long (100-mers) chains, at different concentrations of the binary mixture. We clearly show how the concentration variable affects the enrichment of either of the two polymer species at the interface, and also how the chain length influences this process.

2018

polymer melt, concentration, surface behavior, interface

DOI: 10.3390/polym10030324

Polymers

MDPI AG

Organic chemistry

EN