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Session G30 - Blends & Block Copolymers.
MIXED session, Tuesday afternoon, March 19
Room 265, America's Center

[G'30.04] Thermodynamics of Model Polymer Blends from Integral Equation Theory

Dmitry G. Gromov, Juan J. de Pablo (Dept. of Chemical Engineering, University of Wisconsin, Madison)

The thermodynamics of binary polymer blends have been studied by means of Kirkwood-Buff fluctuation theory. The theory has been generalized to polyatomic interaction site molecules and a self-consistent version of Polymer Reference Interaction Site Model has been utilized to determine the structure of blends. Theoretical predictions for the volumes of mixing have been compared to the results of multiple time step Hybrid Monte Carlo simulations. The phase behavior of polymer blends has also been addressed and theoretical liquid-liquid coexistence curves have been compared to the predictions of Gibbs Ensemble simulations. The developed formalism has been used to predict the properties of systems that currently are beyond the reach of modern molecular simulation techniques.

Part G of program listing