Molecular Dynamics Simulation of the Formation of Polymer Networks

The random end linking of different amounts of trifunctional crosslinkers with 3 000 prepolymer linear chains, with length varying from 10 to 30 monomers, to form networks at different system number densities was dynamically simulated by the molecular dynamics method. Investigation of the crosslinking kinetics shows that, with a stoichiometric number of crosslinkers present, the time evolution of free ends fraction decays as a power law in timet−3/4. This scaling behavior is different from the one in a dense polymer melt. Structural analyses of the resulting networks indicate that the imperfections of the network structure strongly depend on the initial synthesis conditions including the initial system number density and the ratio of crosslinkers to precursor polymer chain ends. magnified image