A viscosity equation for polyatomic fluids under normal and high pressures

In this work, we relate the self-diffusion coefficient to the residual entropy of the system according to the free volume theory and scaling principle. The viscosity equation for a freely jointed Lennard-Jones chain fluid is then obtained from the expression of self-diffusion coefficient by applying the Stokes–Einstein equation. The real polyatomic compounds are modeled as chains of tangent Lennard-Jones segments. The segment size and energy parameter as well as chain length (expressed by the number of segments) are obtained from the experimental viscosity data. The proposed viscosity equation reproduces the experimental viscosity data with an average absolute deviation of 5.12% for 18 polyatomic compounds (1600 data points) over wide ranges of temperature and pressure. For engineering applications, the generalized model parameters for normal alkanes with the number of carbon atoms n > 3 are proposed. The segment energy parameter is suggested to be evaluated from the critical temperature, and the segment size parameter and chain length are correlated with the number of carbon atoms in an alkane molecule.     

Description of self-diffusion coefficients of gases,liquids and fluids at high pressure based on molecular simulation data

The purpose of this work is to evaluate the potential of modeling the self-diffusion coefficient (SDC) of real fluids in all fluid states based on Lennard–Jones analytical relationships involving the SDC, the temperature, the density and the pressure. For that, we generated an equation of state (EOS) that interrelates the self-diffusion coefficient, the temperature and the density of the Lennard–Jones (LJ) fluid. We fit the parameters of such LJ–SDC–EOS using recent wide ranging molecular simulation data for the LJ fluid. We also used in this work a LJ pressure–density–temperature EOS that we combined with the LJ–SDC–EOS to make possible the calculation of LJ–SDC values from given temperature and pressure. Both EOSs are written in terms of LJ dimensionless variables, which are defined in terms of the LJ parameters ɛ and σ. These parameters are meaningful at molecular level. By combining both EOSs, we generated LJ corresponding states charts which make possible to conclude that the LJ fluid captures the observed behavioral patterns of the self-diffusion coefficient of real fluids over a wide range of conditions. In this work, we also performed predictions of the SDC of real fluids in all fluid states. For that, we assumed that a given real fluid behaves as a Lennard–Jones fluid which exactly matches the experimental critical temperature T_c and the experimental critical pressure P_c of the real fluid. Such an assumption implies average true prediction errors of the order of 10% for vapors, light supercritical fluids, some dense supercritical fluids and some liquids. These results make possible to conclude that it is worthwhile to use the LJ fluid reference as a basis to model the self-diffusion coefficient of real fluids, over a wide range of conditions, without resorting to non-LJ correlations for the density–temperature–pressure relationship. The database considered here contains more than 1000 experimental data points. The database practical reduced temperature range is from 0.53 to 2.4, and the practical reduced pressure range is from 0 to 68.4.     

A new correlation on predicting self- and mutual-diffusion coefficient of Lennard–Jones chain fluid

Based on the Chapman–Enskog theory of diffusion and molecular dynamics simulation data for Lennard–Jones chain (LJC) fluid, a new semi-empirical correlation for calculating the self-diffusion coefficient of LJC fluid is proposed. The new correlation introduces in two correction functions with six fitting parameter to modify the impact of intermolecular repulsive and attractive potential energy on molecular friction coefficient. The new correlation represents the experimental self-diffusion coefficients with an average absolute deviation (AAD) of 3.46% for 23 polyatomic compounds (1102 experimental data points) over wide ranges of temperature and pressure. On this basis, the van der Waals mixing rule is adopted to calculate the mutual-diffusion coefficient of binary LJC fluid. By comparison of calculated results with the experimental data of 12 binary LJC systems over wide range of temperature and composition, the average absolute deviation is 6.98% which verifies the accuracy and the effectiveness of the new correlation.     

Volumetric profile of polymer melts from the ISM equation of state

Knowledge of the volumetric or pressure–volume–temperature (PVT) profile of molten polymers is important for both engineering and polymer physics. Ihm–Song–Mason (ISM) equation of state (EOS) has been employed to predict the volumetric properties of 12 molten polymers. The significance of the present paper is three temperature-dependent parameters of the ISM EOS to be determined using corresponding states correlations based on the molecular scaling constants, dispersive energy parameters between segments/monomers (ε) and segment diameter (σ) rather than bulk properties, e.g. the liquid density and temperature both at normal boiling point. The ability of the ISM EOS has been evaluated by comparing the results with 1390 literature datapoints for the specific volumes over the temperature range from 293 to 603.5 K and pressure range from 0.1 to 200 MPa. The average absolute deviation (AAD) of the calculated specific volumes from literature data was found to be 0.52%. The isothermal compressibility coefficients, κ_T values of molten polymers have also been predicted using the ISM EOS. From 684 datapoints examined, the AAD of estimated κ_T was equal to 7.55%. Our calculations on the volumetric and thermodynamic properties of studied polymers reproduce the literature data with reasonably good accuracy.     

Prediction of the transport properties of a polyatomic gas

An ab initio molecular potential model is employed in this paper to show its excellent predictability for the transport properties of a polyatomic gas from molecular dynamics simulations. A quantum mechanical treatment of molecular vibrational energies is included in the Green and Kubo integral formulas for the calculation of the thermal conductivity by the Metropolis Monte Carlo method. Using CO₂ gas as an example, the fluid transport properties in the temperature range of 300–1000 K are calculated without using any experimental data. The accuracy of the calculated transport properties is significantly improved by the present model, especially for the thermal conductivity. The average deviations of the calculated results from the experimental data for self-diffusion coefficient, shear viscosity, thermal conductivity are, respectively, 2.32%, 0.71% and 2.30%.     

Effect of Modification on the Fluid Diffusion Coefficient in Silica Nanochannels

The diffusion behavior of fluid water in nanochannels with hydroxylation of silica gel and silanization of different modified chain lengths was simulated by the equilibrium molecular dynamics method. The diffusion coefficient of fluid water was calculated by the Einstein method and the Green–Kubo method, so as to analyze the change rule between the modification degree of nanochannels and the diffusion coefficient of fluid water. The results showed that the diffusion coefficient of fluid water increased with the length of the modified chain. The average diffusion coefficient of fluid water in the hydroxylated nanochannels was 8.01% of the bulk water diffusion coefficient, and the diffusion coefficients of fluid water in the –(CH₂)₃CH₃, –(CH₂)₇CH₃, and –(CH₂)₁₁CH₃ nanochannels were 44.10%, 49.72%, and 53.80% of the diffusion coefficients of bulk water, respectively. In the above four wall characteristic models, the diffusion coefficients in the z direction were smaller than those in the other directions. However, with an increase in the silylation degree, the increased self-diffusion coefficient due to the surface effect could basically offset the decreased self-diffusion coefficient owing to the scale effect. In the four nanochannels, when the local diffusion coefficient of fluid water was in the range of 8 Å close to the wall, Dz was greater than Dxy, and beyond the range of 8 Å of the wall, the Dz was smaller than Dxy.     

Viscosity of heavy n-alkanes and diffusion of gases therein based on molecular dynamics simulations and empirical correlations

The viscosity of pure n-alkanes and n-alkane mixtures was studied by molecular dynamics (MD) simulations using the Green–Kubo method. n-Alkane molecules were modeled based on the Transferable Potential for Phase Equilibria (TraPPE) united atom force field. MD simulations at constant number of molecules or particles, volume and temperature (NVT) were performed for n-C₈ up to n-C₉₆ at different temperatures as well as for binary and six-component n-alkane mixtures which are considered as prototypes for the hydrocarbon wax produced during the Gas-To-Liquid (GTL) Fischer–Tropsch process. For the pure n-alkanes, good agreement between our simulated viscosities and existing experimental data was observed. In the case of the n-alkane mixtures, the composition dependence of viscosity was examined. The simulated viscosity results were compared with literature empirical correlations. Moreover, a new macroscopic empirical correlation for the calculation of self-diffusion coefficients of hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and water in n-alkanes and mixtures of n-alkanes was developed by combining viscosity and self-diffusion coefficient values in n-alkanes. The correlation was compared with the simulation data and an average absolute deviation (AAD) of 11.3% for pure n-alkanes and 14.3% for n-alkane mixtures was obtained.     

Self-diffusion coefficient prediction in liquids

A semi-empirical equation for self-diffusion coefficient determination has been obtained using square well potential theory modified by a temperature correction function, f = exp(p + qT), where p and q are empirical constants. The proposed equation compares well in overall accuracy with the experimental data and other selected prediction methods over the complete range of investigation (13 compounds, 82 data point sets).     

Second virial coefficients of Lennard–Jones chains

The second virial coefficients B₂ of Lennard–Jones chain fluids were calculated through Monte Carlo integration as a function of chain length m (up to 48 segments) and temperature. We found that at a fixed temperature the second virial coefficient decreases with chain length. At low temperatures, the virial coefficient changes sign from positive to negative as m increases. The simulation data also provide an estimate for the theta temperature T_Θ at which the attractive and repulsive interactions cancel each other for dilute solutions. It is found that the theta temperature T_Θ for Lennard–Jones chains with m>32 is 4.65 independent of chain length m. A comparison of simulated values of B₂ with those evaluated from two different perturbation theories for chain fluid shows that these approximate theories underestimate the second virial coefficients of Lennard–Jones chains.     

Molecular dynamics study on homonuclear and heteronuclear chains of Lennard–Jones segments

We report molecular dynamics (MD) simulation data for three simulated fluids: a homopolymer with 16 tangent Lennard–Jones (LJ) segments at the reduced temperature of 1.25, an equimolar binary homopolymer fluid with eight tangent LJ segments at 15 state points, and three corresponding copolymers with equimolar segment fraction and varying segment distribution at 15 state points. We find that the compressibility factors and energies do not change as the segment distribution varies in the copolymer example. The simulation data are compared with thermodynamic perturbation theory (TPT1) calculations. The TPT1 compressibility factors compare favorably with the MD data at high reduced temperatures but differ significantly at lower temperatures.     

Diffusion and phase transformations in spark plasma synthesized and sintered Cu-V2O5 couples

Fast diffusion of Cu into V₂O₅ at 520 °C is studied in Cu-V₂O₅ diffusion couples sintered by spark plasma sintering. The impact, on the diffusion profiles, of phase transformations and of variations of the diffusion coefficient with Cu concentration is discussed. From the pure Cu source, two phases are observed to spread, leading to a “two-step-like” shape of the diffusion profiles. In the more concentrated phase (phase ε), the diffusion coefficient D of Cu is ≈3×10⁻⁸ m²/s. This is a remarkably high value, of the same order of magnitude as self-diffusion in liquid metals. In the less concentrated phase (phase β′), D is lower than in ε. This is due to the differences in the diffusion mechanisms of Cu in these two phases: two dimensional in ε and one dimensional in β′. In β′, D strongly depends on Cu concentration. This is in good agreement with computer simulations reported in the literature.     

Mixing rules for hardsphere chain mixtures and their extension to heteronuclear hardsphere polyatomic fluids and mixtures

Mixing rules are very important for the calculation of fluid properties using different equations of state. In order to find the theoretical lead of the mixing rule for the size parameter, a mixing rule [1] for hardsphere mixtures has been proposed on the basis of Carnahan-Starling equation and Boublik-Mansoori equation. As its extension, mixing rules for hardsphere chain mixtures are proposed in this work. A mixing rule for the segment number (or chain length) is derived on the limitation of the equality of segment diameters, from the first order thermodynamic perturbation theories (TPT1) for pure chain fluids and for chain mixtures. Meanwhile, the mixing rule for the segment diameter is the same as the mixing rule for hardsphere mixtures on the limitation of monomer mixtures. The two mixing rules are checked together over wide ranges of conditions for hardsphere chain mixtures and compared with the first order thermodynamic perturbation theory (TPT1) and also with simulation data available in literature. An another interesting usage of new mixing rules is to describe the heteronuclear hardsphere polyatomic pure fluids, which consist of hardspheres with different segment diameters as in methane and ethane in which carbon and hydrogen atoms are looked as bonded spheres, and heteronuclear hardsphere polyatomic mixtures. The comparison with simulation data shows the validity of the mixing rules.     

Molecular dynamics simulation study of friction and diffusion of a tracer in a Lennard–Jones solvent

The friction and diffusion coefficients of a tracer in a Lennard–Jones (LJ) solvent are evaluated by equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations in a microcanonical ensemble. The solvent molecules interact through a repulsive LJ force each other and the tracer of diameter σ₂ interacts with the solvent molecules through the same repulsive LJ force with a different LJ parameter σ. Positive deviation of the diffusion coefficient D of the tracer from a Stokes–Einstein behavior is observed and the plot of 1/D versus σ₂ shows a linear behavior. It is also observed that the friction coefficient ζ of the tracer varies linearly with σ₂ in accord with the prediction of the Stokes formula but shows a smaller slope than the Stokes prediction. When the values of ratios of sizes between the tracer and solvent molecules are higher than 5 approximately, the behavior of the friction and diffusion coefficients is well described by the Einstein relation D = k _B T/ζ, from which the tracer is considered as a Brownian particle.     

The self-diffusion coefficient in stable and metastable states of the Lennard-Jones fluid

Molecular-dynamics simulations have been employed to calculate the self-diffusion coefficient of a Lennard-Jones fluid for 198 sets of state parameters in the range of temperatures 0.35 ≤ k_BT/? ≤ 2.0 and densities 0.005 ≤ ρσ³ ≤ 1.2. Calculations have been made in stable and metastable states to the boundary of spontaneous nucleation in a model containing 2048 interacting particles. Results of computations, performed in the parameter range of stable states, are compared with the results of previous papers. Equations have been formulated, which describe the dependences of the self-diffusion coefficient on temperature and density and on temperature and pressure in the whole range of parameters including both the stable and metastable (supersaturated vapor, superheated and supercooled liquid) states of fluid.     

Monte Carlo simulation for the adsorption of symmetric triblock copolymers I. Configuration distribution and density profiles of adsorbed chains

Monte Carlo simulations for the adsorption of symmetric triblock copolymers from a nonselective solvent at a solid-liquid interface have been performed on a lattice model. In simulations, triblock copolymer molecules are modeled as self-avoiding linear chains composed of m segments of A and n segments of B arranged as A_m/2B_nA_m/2. Either segment A or segment B is attractive, while the other is non-attractive to the surface. The microstructure of the adsorbed layers, including the segment-density profiles and the size distribution of loops, tails and trains are presented. The effect of the adsorption energy, the bulk concentration, the chain composition, as well as the chain length on various adsorption properties has been studied. The results have shown that the size distribution of various configurations is dependent of the adsorption energy, the chain composition and the chain length. The mean length of the loops, trains and tails is insensitive to the bulk concentration. The mean length of the trains increases and that of the tails decreases as the adsorption energy and the length of the attractive segments increase. The mean length of the loops for the end-adsorbed copolymers appears a maximum and that for middle-adsorbed copolymers appears a minimum as the length of attractive segments increases. The length of the non-attractive segments affects mostly the size distribution of the tails. The longer the chain is, the larger the tail appears. The mean length of the tails and loops increases linearly as the length of the non-attractive segments increases, but that of the trains approximately is unchanged.     

Thermophysical property characterization of aqueous amino acid salt solutions containing α-aminobutyric acid

In this study, density, electrical conductivity, refractive index and viscosity of aqueous potassium and sodium salt solutions of α-aminobutyric acid were presented. Measurements were done over the temperature range (303.15 to 343.15) K and atmospheric pressure for salt compositions from x₁ = 0.009 to 0.062. A modified Graber et al. equation was used to correlate the density, electrical conductivity, and refractive index with temperature and composition leading to average absolute deviations (AAD) between the predicted and calculated values of 0.04%, 0.7%, and 0.01%, respectively. The viscosity data were represented as a function of temperature and composition via Vogel–Tamman–Fulcher (VTF) type equation at an AAD of 0.6%.     

Gas permeability of cupric ion containing HTPB based polyurethane membranes

For the purpose of oxygen enrichment from air, the gas permeability and selectivity of an ionic polyurethane membrane was under investigation. Membranes of ionic polyurethane were prepared by step-growth polymerization of hydroxyl terminated polybutadiene (HTPB) and 4,4′-dicyclohexylmethane diisocyanate (H₁₂MDI). The ionic group was introduced by adding N-methyldiethanolamine (MDEA) as the chain extender of which the tertiary amines were complexed with cupric ions. The effect of hard segment content, polymerization method, peroxide introduction, and the amount of cupric ion on gas permeability were investigated. It was found that the binding of hard segment and the flexibility of soft segments had subtle effects on gas permeability. Membranes of the same composition were synthesized through two different procedures, one- and two-stage polymerization. The former contains large hard segment of cluster aggregation and flexible soft segments had a higher gas permeation rate. When a crosslinker, benzoyl peroxide, was added, the crosslinkage within soft segments hindered cluster formation by hard segment aggregation, the permeability increased. Furthermore, CuCl₂ addition enhanced hard segment aggregation, more hard segments formed cluster aggregates and less dispersed in soft segment region, which also increased permeability. However, excess CuCl₂ addition resulted in CuCl₂ piling up in the soft segment region, which restricted the movement of soft segments and therefore reduced the gas permeability.     

The use of the cohen–turnbull model for calculation of the self-diffusion coefficients of liquid dichloroalkanes

The paper presents the self-diffusion coefficients calculated for liquid dichloroalkanes C₆H₁₂Cl₂, C₈H₁₆Cl₂, C₁₀H₂₂Cl₂ and C₁₂H₂₄Cl₂, with the use of the Cohen and Turnbull model. Determination of self-diffusion coefficients permits a separate analysis of intra- and intermolecular motions and provides information on geometrical and dynamical properties of molecules. The self-diffusion coefficients of selected dichloroalkanes have been determined by X-ray diffraction and compared with the corresponding NMR results. The suitability of the Cohen–Turnbull model of the translating motion for prediction of self-diffusion coefficients for molecules whose shape significantly differs from the spherical symmetry is analysed. Angular distributions of X-ray scattered intensity were measured, and differential radial distribution functions of electron density (DRDFs) were calculated. The mean coordination numbers were obtained from the area delimited by the minima of the DRDFs, and their dependence on the length of the methylene chain is also presented subsequently. On the basis of the DRDFs the average free volume of the molecules and total free volume of the liquids were calculated. The activation volume of the diffusion was found to make about 0.6 of the van der Waals volume of the molecule. As expected the diffusion coefficients decrease with increasing molecular weight. The equation relating the self-diffusion coefficient with the volume of the coordination spheres in the liquid has been derived.     

Liquid–liquid equilibria of copolymer mixtures based on an equation of state

Liquid–liquid equilibria of copolymer mixtures were studied by an equation of state (EoS) for chain-like fluids. The equation consists of a reference term for hetero-nuclear hard-sphere chain fluids developed by Hu et al. where the next-to-nearest-neighbor correlations have been taken into account; and a perturbation term from Alder et al.’s square-well attractive potential. The segment parameters, including number of segments, segment diameter and interaction energy between segments, are obtained by fitting pVT data of pure homopolymer. For the case of different species in the same copolymer, the interaction parameters for unlike segment pairs are obtained by fitting pVT data of pure copolymer. For the interaction between segment of homopolymer and different species in copolymer, the parameters are treated as adjustable by fitting liquid–liquid equilibria data. In the latter case, the difference between different species in a copolymer is simply neglected as an approximation. Therefore, in general, only one pair of adjustable interaction parameter is determined from LLE data. To model miscibility maps of copolymer mixtures having two or three kinds of species, the interaction parameters are obtained from the boundary between miscible and immiscible regions. The EoS used in this work can correlate phase behavior including coexistence curves, miscibility windows and miscibility maps.     

Evaluation of high-frequency elastic moduli and shear relaxation time of the Lennard-Jones fluid using three known analytical expressions for radial distribution function

High-frequency elastic moduli (G_∞ and K_∞) for a Lennard-Jones (LJ) fluid have been calculated using three known analytical expressions for radial distribution function (RDF) at different temperatures and densities and compared with the corresponding values of these properties obtained from molecular dynamics (MD).