Off-lattice Monte Carlo simulations of polymer melts confined between two plates

Abstract

In this paper, we present the results of Monte Carlo simulations of the static properties of polymer melts confined between hard walls. The simulations are conducted in the canonical ensemble with a method that is a combination of reptation and crankshaft motions. 1250 polymer chains each comprising of 100 connected beads are placed in a box which allows for the simulation of a typical polymer melt confined between two hard plates at a separation of 51 bead diameters. Noncovalently bonded beads are assumed to interact with an empirical 6-12 Lennard-Jones potential which has parameters chosen to simulate a polyethylene melt at 400 K. From the analysis of the simulation results we show the existence of two relevant length scales in the problem. Single-chain statistics are perturbed by the wall, and this effect is screened out only after one proceeds to a distance comparable to twice the unperturbed radius of gyration of the polymer chain. However, many-chain statistics, i.e., packing and orientation of chain segments, are screened out as soon as one proceeds about three times the bead size from the wall. The simulation also allows for the study of the conformations of chains near the wall, and we observe that chains near the surface are flattened into nearly two-dimensional structures. The interface therefore corresponds to a region where chain configurations gradually evolve from this nearly two-dimensional structure to the unperturbed, three-dimensional Gaussian configurations in the bulk.