Simulation and Calculation of Polymer Composite Materials

A special issue of Polymers (ISSN 2073-4360). This special issue belongs to the section "Polymer Physics and Theory".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 5 November 2024 | Viewed by 2096

Special Issue Editors

1. SOlids inFormaTics AI-Laboratory (SOFT-AI-Lab), Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, China
2. College of Polymer Science and Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, China
Interests: computational materials; machine learning; molecular dynamics; multiscale modeling; inverse design; disordered solids; polymer composites; glassy materials; porous materials; mechanical metamaterials

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Co-Guest Editor
College of Polymer Science and Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, China
Interests: polymer composites; fibre-reinforced composites; processing–structure-property relationships; polymer rheology; crystalline structure; morphology development; mechanical properties; advance manufacturing

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Co-Guest Editor
Department of Ocean Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China
Interests: composite materials; polymer encapsulation; polymer-reinforced concrete; thermal regulation
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Due to their disordered out-of-equilibrium nature, polymeric solids exhibit a complex structure–property relationship that challenges the rational design of polymer materials and their products with tailored properties. By adding extra phases into the polymeric matrix, polymer composites feature an increasing extent of structural complexity, which, in turn, significantly enhances the tunability of their properties but renders their rational design even harder. With the recent advances in computational materials science, physics- and data-driven modeling—including simulations and machine learning—offer an attractive opportunity to revisit these challenges facing polymer composite design.
In this Special Issue, we invite contributions that address several aspects pertaining to the modelling and inverse design of polymer composites, including those that decipher the structure–property relationship of polymeric solids by conventional modeling tools (such as molecular dynamics simulations and finite element analysis), develop new simulation schemes to predict polymer properties by simplifying the underlying physics, build surrogate simulation engines of polymer composites by machine learning, and combine high-throughput simulations and machine learning to accelerate the discovery of novel polymer materials. More broadly, any original contributions (including reviews) relevant to rationalizing computational modeling of polymer composites and their inverse design are welcome. We hope that this Special Issue will modestly help to stimulate new developments in that direction.

Dr. Han Liu
Guest Editor

Dr. Maja Kuzmanović
Dr. Zhenhua Wei
Co-Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • polymer composites
  • polymeric solids
  • mechanical property
  • structural morphology
  • molecular dynamics simulation
  • finite element analysis
  • multiscale modeling
  • constitutive modeling
  • machine learning
  • inverse design

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 8055 KiB  
Article
Study on the Factors Affecting the Self-Healing Performance of Graphene-Modified Asphalt Based on Molecular Dynamics Simulation
by Fei Guo, Xiaoyu Li, Ziran Wang, Yijun Chen and Jinchao Yue
Polymers 2024, 16(17), 2482; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym16172482 - 30 Aug 2024
Viewed by 437
Abstract
To comprehensively understand the impact of various environmental factors on the self-healing process of graphene-modified asphalt, this study employs molecular dynamics simulation methods to investigate the effects of aging degree (unaged, short-term aged, long-term aged), asphalt type (base asphalt, graphene-modified asphalt), healing temperature [...] Read more.
To comprehensively understand the impact of various environmental factors on the self-healing process of graphene-modified asphalt, this study employs molecular dynamics simulation methods to investigate the effects of aging degree (unaged, short-term aged, long-term aged), asphalt type (base asphalt, graphene-modified asphalt), healing temperature (20 °C, 25 °C, 30 °C), and damage degree (5 Å, 10 Å, 15 Å) on the self-healing performance of asphalt. The validity of the established asphalt molecular models was verified based on four physical quantities: density, radial distribution function analysis, glass transition temperature, and cohesive energy density. The simulated healing time for the asphalt crack model was set to 200 ps. The following conclusions were drawn based on the changes in density, mean square displacement, and diffusion coefficient during the simulated healing process under different influencing factors: Dehydrogenation and oxidation of asphalt molecules during the aging process hinder molecular migration within the asphalt crack model, resulting in poorer self-healing performance. As the service life increases, the decline in the healing performance of graphene-modified asphalt is slower than that of base asphalt, indicating that graphene-modified asphalt has stronger anti-aging properties. When the vacuum layer in the asphalt crack model is small, the changes in the diffusion coefficient are less pronounced. As the crack width increases, the influence of various factors on the diffusion coefficient of the asphalt crack model becomes more significant. When the crack width is large, the self-healing effect of asphalt is more dependent on these influencing factors. Damage degree and oxidative aging have a more significant impact on the healing ability of graphene-modified asphalt than healing temperature. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Simulation and Calculation of Polymer Composite Materials)
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10 pages, 5592 KiB  
Communication
Prediction of the Tribological Properties of Polytetrafluoroethylene Composites Based on Experiments and Machine Learning
by Yingnan Yan, Jiliang Du, Shiwei Ren and Mingchao Shao
Polymers 2024, 16(3), 356; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym16030356 - 28 Jan 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1158
Abstract
Because of the complex nonlinear relationship between working conditions, the prediction of tribological properties has become a difficult problem in the field of tribology. In this study, we employed three distinct machine learning (ML) models, namely random forest regression (RFR), gradient boosting regression [...] Read more.
Because of the complex nonlinear relationship between working conditions, the prediction of tribological properties has become a difficult problem in the field of tribology. In this study, we employed three distinct machine learning (ML) models, namely random forest regression (RFR), gradient boosting regression (GBR), and extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost), to predict the tribological properties of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) composites under high-speed and high-temperature conditions. Firstly, PTFE composites were successfully prepared, and tribological properties under different temperature, speed, and load conditions were studied in order to explore wear mechanisms. Then, the investigation focused on establishing correlations between the friction and wear of PTFE composites by testing these parameters through the prediction of the friction coefficient and wear rate. Importantly, the correlation results illustrated that the friction coefficient and wear rate gradually decreased with the increase in speed, which was also proven by the correlation coefficient. In addition, the GBR model could effectively predict the tribological properties of the PTFE composites. Furthermore, an analysis of relative importance revealed that both load and speed exerted a greater influence on the prediction of the friction coefficient and wear rate. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Simulation and Calculation of Polymer Composite Materials)
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