Molecular dynamics simulation of the capillary leveling of viscoelastic polymer films

Tanis, Ioannis; Meyer, H.; Salez, Thomas; Raphaël, Élie; Maggs, A. C.; Baschnagel, J.

doi:10.1063/1.4978938

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…The aim of the present work is to provide additional insight into the surface mobility of a glass-forming liquid by means of molecular dynamics simulations. Similarly to a recent work where we probed the viscoelastic behavior of nonentangled polymer films above the glass-transition temperature, through the capillary leveling of a square-wave surface pattern, we examine here the evolution of a square-wave surface pattern atop a generic binary LJ mixture supported by an attractive substrate. This new study is carried out over a wide temperature range, sampling both the glassy and liquid states of the film.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Molecular Dynamics Simulation of the Capillary Leveling of a Glass-Forming Liquid

2019

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Motivated by recent experimental studies probing i) the existence of a mobile layer at the free surface of glasses, and ii) the capillary leveling of polymer nanofilms, we study the evolution of square-wave patterns at the free surface of a generic glass-forming binary Lennard-Jones mixture over a wide temperature range, by means of molecular dynamics simulations. The pattern's amplitude is monitored and the associated decay rate is extracted. The evolution of the latter as a function of temperature exhibits a crossover between two distinct behaviours, over a temperature range typically bounded by the glass-transition temperature and the mode-coupling critical temperature. Layer-resolved analysis of the film particles' mean-squared displacements further shows that diffusion at the surface is considerably faster than in the bulk, below the glass-transition temperature. The diffusion coefficient of the surface particles is larger than its bulk counterpart by a factor that reaches 10 5 at the lowest temperature studied. This factor decreases upon heating, in agreement with recent experimental studies.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Molecular Dynamics Simulation of the Capillary Leveling of a Glass-Forming Liquid

2019

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“…From this model, characteristic self-similarities of the levelling pro- x files, as well as numerical [38] and analytical [39,40] solutions have been derived, which were found in excellent agreement with the experimental results. Furthermore, coarse-grained molecular dynamics models allowed to extend the framework of capillary levelling by offering local dynamical insights and probing viscoelasticity [41].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Elastocapillary levelling of thin viscous films on soft substrates

et al. 2017

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A thin liquid film with nonzero curvature at its free surface spontaneously flows to reach a flat configuration, a process driven by Laplace pressure gradients and resisted by the liquid's viscosity. Inspired by recent progresses on the dynamics of liquid droplets on soft substrates, we here study the relaxation of a viscous film supported by an elastic foundation. Experiments involve thin polymer films on elastomeric substrates, where the dynamics of the liquid-air interface is monitored using atomic force microscopy. A theoretical model that describes the coupled evolution of the solid-liquid and the liquid-air interfaces is also provided. In this soft-levelling configuration, Laplace pressure gradients not only drive the flow, but they also induce elastic deformations on the substrate that affect the flow and the shape of the liquid-air interface itself. This process represents an original example of elastocapillarity that is not mediated by the presence of a contact line. We discuss the impact of the elastic contribution on the levelling dynamics and show the departure from the classical self-similarities and power laws observed for capillary levelling on rigid substrates.

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Molecular dynamics simulation of the capillary leveling of viscoelastic polymer films

Cited by 2 publications

References 64 publications

Molecular Dynamics Simulation of the Capillary Leveling of a Glass-Forming Liquid

Molecular Dynamics Simulation of the Capillary Leveling of a Glass-Forming Liquid

Elastocapillary levelling of thin viscous films on soft substrates

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