Following the substantial progress in molecular simulations of polymer-matrix nanocomposites, now is the time to reconsider this topic from a critical point of view. A comprehensive survey is reported herein providing an overview of classical molecular simulations, reviewing their major achievements in modeling polymer matrix nanocomposites, and identifying several open challenges. Molecular simulations at multiple length and time scales, working hand-in-hand with sensitive experiments, have enhanced our understanding of how nanofillers alter the structure, dynamics, thermodynamics, rheology and mechanical properties of the surrounding polymer matrices.

In previous work by the authors, a new methodology was developed for Brownian dynamics/kinetic Monte Carlo (BD/kMC) simulations of polymer melts. In this study, this methodology is extended for dynamical simulations of crosslinked polymer networks in a coarse-grained representation, wherein chains are modeled as sequences of beads, each bead encompassing a few Kuhn segments. In addition, the C++ code embodying these simulations, entitled Engine for Mesoscopic Simulations for Polymer Networks (EMSIPON) is described in detail. A crosslinked network of cis-1,4-polyisoprene is chosen as a test system. From the thermodynamic point of view, the system is fully described by a Helmholtz energy consisting of three explicit contributions: entropic springs, slip springs and non-bonded interactions. Entanglements between subchains in the network are represented by slip springs. The ends of the slip springs undergo thermally activated hops between adjacent beads along the chain backbones, which are tracked by kinetic Monte Carlo simulation. In addition, creation/destruction processes are included for the slip springs at dangling subchain ends. The Helmholtz energy of non-bonded interactions is derived from the Sanchez–Lacombe equation of state. The isothermal compressibility of the polymer network is predicted from equilibrium density fluctuations in very good agreement with the underlying equation of state and with experiment. Moreover, the methodology and the corresponding C++ code are applied to simulate elongational deformations of polymer rubbers. The shear stress relaxation modulus is predicted from equilibrium simulations of several microseconds of physical time in the undeformed state, as well as from stress-strain curves of the crosslinked polymer networks under deformation.

We present results concerning the dynamics and the structure of adsorbed layers of molten polyethylene (PE) between two graphite surfaces. The molecular weight of the monodisperse PE chains reaches the entanglement regime. We study three cases of interwall distances, equal to two, three and four times the unperturbed radius of gyration (R_g ) of PE chains. The confined system is equilibrated by use of efficient Monte Carlo (MC) algorithms. Conducting molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, we reveal the distribution of relaxation times as a function of distance from the graphite walls at the temperature of 450 K. From the atomic-level stresses we calculate a realistic estimate of the adhesion tension, which is not affected significantly by the width of the pore. Although the distance between the two walls is comparable to the width of the adsorbed layer, we do not record the formation of 'glassy bridges' under the studied conditions. The diffusion of polymer chains in the middle layer is not inhibited by the existence of the two adsorbed layers. Extreme confinement conditions imposed by the long range wall potentials bring about an increase in both the adsorption and desorption rates of chains. The presented results seem to cohere with a reduction in the calorimetric (heat capacity step) glass transition temperature (T_g ).