ECMC 2021 Weise

From Werner KRAUTH

Event-Chain Simulations of Bundled Polymer Networks

authors: Lukas Weise, Tobias Kampmann, Jan Kierfeld

speaker: Lukas Weise

We simulate Systems of attractive Semiflexible Harmonic Chain (SHC) polymers with the PolyEC framework in quasi-two dimensions. An isotropic initialization of the system evolves into a network of densely packed bundles of polymers. The resulting cellular structure aims to minimize the overall bundle length which gives rise to coarsening dynamics reminiscent of the behavior of foams. Measurement of the tension within the bundles allows to derive scaling laws describing the coarsening process. Deviations from a foam like structure are observed for the angles between bundles of the network as a consequence of the non-negligible bending stiffness.