Coarse-Grained Brownian Dynamics Simulations for Symmetric Diblock Copolymer Melts Based on the Soft Dumbbell Model

Abstract

We propose a highly coarse-grained dynamics simulation model for symmetric diblock copolymers based on the soft dumbbell model. We perform the simulations of microphase separation dynamics of diblock copolymer melts with and without shear flow and show that Brownian dynamics simulations for soft dumbbells can reproduce dynamics of microphase separated diblock copolymers qualitatively well with small computational costs. We also calculate the shear relaxation moduli for unoriented and oriented lamellar structures. It is shown that lamellars can be oriented to the perpendicular direction by shear flow, and the shear thinning behaviour is observed.