Multiscale modeling of viscoelastic properties of polymer nanocomposites

A methodology for simple multiscale modeling of mechanical properties of polymer nanocomposites has been developed. This methodology consists of three steps: (1) obtaining from molecular dynamics simulations the viscoelastic properties of the bulklike polymer and approximating the position-dependent shear modulus of the interfacial polymer on the basis of the polymer-bead mean-square displacements as a function of the distance from the nanoparticle surface, (2) using bulk- and interfacial-polymer properties obtained from molecular dynamics simulations and performing stress-relaxation simulations of the nanocomposites with material-point-method simulations to extract the nanocomposite viscoelastic properties, and (3) performing direct validation of the average composite viscoelastic properties obtained from material-point-method simulations with those obtained from the molecular dynamics simulations of the nanocomposites. (c) 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.