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Polymer and Organic Materials Commons

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Full-Text Articles in Polymer and Organic Materials

New Methods For Understanding And Controlling The Self-Assembly Of Reacting Systems Using Coarse-Grained Molecular Dynamics, Stephen Thomas Aug 2018

New Methods For Understanding And Controlling The Self-Assembly Of Reacting Systems Using Coarse-Grained Molecular Dynamics, Stephen Thomas

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

This research aims at developing new computational methods to understand the molecular self-assembly of reacting systems whose complex structures depend on the thermodynamics of mixing, reaction kinetics, and diffusion kinetics. The specific reacting system examined in this study is epoxy, cured with linear chain thermoplastic tougheners whose complex microstructure is known from experiments to affect mechanical properties and to be sensitive to processing conditions. Mesoscale simulation techniques have helped to bridge the length and time scales needed to predict the microstructures of cured epoxies, but the prohibitive computational cost of simulating experimentally relevant system sizes has limited their impact. In …


Microstructural Characterization Of Shear Transformation Zones And Modeling Indentation Size Effect In Amorphous Polymers, Leila Malekmotiei Jun 2018

Microstructural Characterization Of Shear Transformation Zones And Modeling Indentation Size Effect In Amorphous Polymers, Leila Malekmotiei

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The first aim of this work is developing a procedure for experimental and analytical characterization of nano-scale microstructures which mediate large scale deformation in amorphous polymers. Glassy polymers are extensively used as high impact resistant, low density, and clear materials in industries. Nevertheless, their response under severe loading conditions is yet to be appropriately unraveled. Due to the lack of long-range order in the microstructures of glassy solids, their plastic deformation is different from that in crystalline solids. Shear Transformation Zones (STZs) are believed to be the main plasticity carriers in amorphous solids and defined as the localized atomic or …