Hydrodynamic Self-Consistent Field Theory for Inhomogeneous Polymer Melts

Abstract

We introduce a mesoscale technique for simulating the structure and rheology of block copolymer melts and blends in hydrodynamic flows. The technique couples dynamic self consistent field theory (DSCFT) with continuum hydrodynamics and flow penalization to simulate polymeric fluid flows in channels of arbitrary geometry. We demonstrate the method by studying phase separation of an ABC triblock copolymer melt in a sub-micron channel with neutral wall wetting conditions. We find that surface wetting effects and shear effects compete, producing wall-perpendicular lamellae in the absence of flow, and wall-parallel lamellae in cases where the shear rate exceeds some critical Weissenberg number.

Revised as per peer review

References in corpus (3)

• A Viscoelastic model of phase separation
• Spinodal Decomposition in a Binary Polymer Mixture: Dynamic Self Consistent Field Theory and Monte Carlo Simulations
• Interfacial Slip in Sheared Polymer Blends

Cited by in corpus (4)

• Phase-field-crystal models for condensed matter dynamics on atomic length and diffusive time scales: an overview
• Self-Consistent Field Approach for Crosslinked Copolymer Materials
• Using field theory to construct hybrid particle-continuum simulation schemes with adaptive resolution for soft matter systems
• Stability of parallel/perpendicular domain boundaries in lamellar block copolymers under oscillatory shear