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Energy renormalization approach to coarse-graining of polymer dynamics
Published
Author(s)
Wenjie Xia, Jake Song, Cheol Jeong, David D. Hsu, Frederick R. Phelan Jr., Jack F. Douglas, Sinan Keten
Abstract
A major challenge in soft matter science is the bottom-up prediction of the temperature- dependent behavior of amorphous glass-forming (GF) polymers. Coarse-grained (CG) models derived from atomistic simulation data offer chemical specificity and access to relevant time-scales, but exhibit faster dynamics due to their reduced degrees of freedom. Based on the common notion of a temperature-dependent activation energy in glass formation theories, we find that renormalizing the CG cohesive energy parameters as a sigmoidal function of temperature allows accurate prediction of atomistic polymer dynamics over the Arrhenius regime, the non-Arrhenius regime of incipient of glass-formation and the glassy state. We establish a systematic approach to enthalpically compensate for the altered configurational entropy and cooperatively rearranging regions (CRRs) in CG modeling. This represents critical progress for building temperature-transferable CG models that predict key properties of GF polymer materials. The unique role that cohesive interactions play on GF characteristics as highlighted in this work reveals new opportunities for the tailored design of GF polymer materials.
Xia, W.
, Song, J.
, Jeong, C.
, Hsu, D.
, Phelan, F.
, Douglas, J.
and Keten, S.
(2017),
Energy renormalization approach to coarse-graining of polymer dynamics, Macromolecules, [online], https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.macromol.7b01717
(Accessed October 9, 2025)