Effect of blending on nematic order in semiflexible polymers

ORAL

Abstract

Semiflexible polymers of sufficient stiffness exhibit liquid crystalline order at sufficient polymer concentrations. In this work, we investigate blends of flexible and semiflexible polymers with the aid of Monte Carlo simulations of a bond-fluctuation model. The model is an extension of Shaffer's bond-fluctuation model, where chain stiffness is controlled by including different forms of bending penalties, and includes attractive interactions between monomers. From simulations for a range of values of the bending energy, density, and temperature, we determine the effect of concentration of the flexible polymer on liquid crystalline order.

–

Authors

  • Kiran Khanal

    University of Akron, Department of Physics and Chemistry, The University of Akron, Department of Physics and Chemistry

  • Jutta Luettmer-Strathmann

    University of Akron, Department of Physics and Chemistry, The University of Akron, Department of Physics and Chemistry, University of Akron, Department of Physics