Monte Carlo Study of Chain Entanglements in Polymer MeltDOI

The new multibond algorithm for the Monte Carlo simulations of polymers developed for an isolated chain was extended for the case of dense polymer melts. Polymer chains were confined to a simple cubic lattice with excluded volume and no attractive interactions (good solvent conditions). The simulations were carried out by the means of the classical Metropolis scheme. The algorithm was verified by the analysis of static and dynamic properties of polymer melts. The dependence of the longest relaxation time and the self-diffusion coefficient on the chain length and the polymer concentration was discussed and the proper scaling laws were formulated. The number of entanglements, their distribution, and lifetimes were determined for different chain lengths and melt concentrations using the new algorithm