Relaxation dynamics of a polymer network modeled by a multihierarchical structure

Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys. 2011 Jul;84(1 Pt 1):011801. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevE.84.011801. Epub 2011 Jul 6.

Abstract

We numerically analyze the scaling behavior of experimentally accessible dynamical relaxation forms for polymer networks modeled by a finite multihierarchical structure. In the framework of generalized Gaussian structures, by making use of the eigenvalue spectrum of the connectivity matrix, we determine the averaged monomer displacement under local external forces as well as the mechanical relaxation quantities (storage and loss moduli). Hence we generalize the known analysis for both classes of fractals to the case of multihierarchical structure, for which even though we have a mixed growth algorithm, the above cited observables still give information about the two different underlying topologies. For very large lattices, reached via an algebraic procedure that avoids the numerical diagonalizations of the corresponding connectivity matrices, we depict the scaling of both component fractals in the intermediate time (frequency) domain, which manifests two different slopes.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Algorithms
  • Fractals
  • Models, Statistical
  • Models, Theoretical
  • Normal Distribution
  • Physics / methods*
  • Polymers / chemistry*
  • Stochastic Processes
  • Temperature

Substances

  • Polymers