Monte Carlo simulation of phase separation kinetics in a concentrated polymer solution

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Monte Carlo simulation of phase separation kinetics in a concentrated polymer solution

Spinodal decomposition (SD) kinetics in a concentrated polymer solution was investigated with dynamic Monte Carlo simulation. It is found that the positions of scattering peaks are altered during the early stage of phase separation, which cannot be described by the classic Cahn|Hilliard linearized theory quite well, whereas during the late stage SD induced by a deep off|critical quench, the structure factors can be scaled with Furukawa dynamic scaling law associated with a percolation morphology instead of with a non|continuous phase morphology. Our simulation outputs agree basically with the experimental observations in the pertinent literature. It is also revealed that after a deep quench, chain coils shrink strikingly at first and then expand gradually during phase separation. As a consequence, this paper demonstrates that the dynamic Monte Carlo method is unique in detecting both chain configurations and phase separation kinetics and thus very useful for elucidating their relationship in mixtures containing macromolecules.