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In light of the enduring interest in using nanostructured carbon materials as reinforcing elements in composite materials, there is a significant need for a reliable computational tool capable to predict the mechanical properties, both elastic properties and properties at the point of fracture, in large-scale atomistic simulations. A revised version of the ReaxFF reactive force field parametrization for carbon, ReaxFFC-2013, was recently published and is notable because of the inclusion of density functional theory (DFT)-derived mechanical data for diamond and graphite in the fitting set. The purpose of the present work is to assess the accuracy of this new force field for predicting the mechanical properties for several allotropes of carbon, both in the elastic regime and during fracture. The initial discussion focuses on the performance of ReaxFFC-2013 for diamond and graphene, the two carbon forms for which mechanical properties were included in the parametrization data set. After it is established that simulations conducted with the new force field yield results that agree well with DFT and experimental data for most properties of interest, its transferability to amorphous carbon and carbon nanotubes is explored. ReaxFFC-2013 is found to produce results that, for the most part, compare favorably with available experimental data for single and multiwalled nanotubes and for amorphous carbon models prepared over a range of densities. Although there is opportunity for improvement in some predicted properties, the ReaxFFC-2013 parametrization is shown to generally perform well for each form of carbon and to compare favorably with DFT and experimental data.

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The influence of monomer functionality on the mechanical properties of epoxies is studied using molecular dynamics (MD) with the Reax Force Field (ReaxFF). From deformation simulations, the Young's modulus, yield point, and Poisson's ratio are calculated and analyzed. Comparison between the network structures of distinct epoxies is further advanced by the monomeric degree index (MDI). Experimental validation demonstrates the MD results correctly predict the relationship in Young's moduli. Therefore, ReaxFF is confirmed to be a useful tool for studying the mechanical behavior of epoxies. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2018, 56, 255–264

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REACTER is a heuristic protocol that allows complex, predefined reactions to be modeled in atomistic, fixed-valence molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The method is applicable to a broad range of chemical reactions and permits much larger and longer reactive simulations than existing approaches. One or more competing multistep reactions or series of reactions can be invoked simultaneously. Special treatment can be applied to neighboring atoms to relax high-energy configurations while the simulation progresses. The original implementation of REACTER, which was included in the open-source LAMMPS simulation package as fix bond/react, was only available for serial simulations. This work describes the expansion of the REACTER protocol for use in parallel simulations, as well as the addition of various new options, including deletion of reaction byproducts, reversible reactions, and custom reaction constraints. The capability of the parallel implementation is demonstrated through large-scale simulations (200000+ atoms) of the polymerization of polystyrene and nylon-6,6. The morphologies of both polymers are analyzed after reaching >99% extent of polymerization. Finally, the newly added reversible reactions feature is demonstrated by rupturing these highly entangled systems under uniaxial strain by defining a chain scission reaction.

As the sophistication of reactive force fields for molecular modeling continues to increase, their use and applicability has also expanded, sometimes beyond the scope of their original development. Reax Force Field (ReaxFF), for example, was originally developed to model chemical reactions, but is a promising candidate for modeling fracture because of its ability to treat covalent bond cleavage. Performing reliable simulations of a complex process like fracture, however, requires an understanding of the effects that various modeling parameters have on the behavior of the system. This work assesses the effects of time step size, thermostat algorithm and coupling coefficient, and strain rate on the fracture behavior of three carbon-based materials: graphene, diamond, and a carbon nanotube. It is determined that the simulated stress-strain behavior is relatively independent of the thermostat algorithm, so long as coupling coefficients are kept above a certain threshold. Likewise, the stress-strain response of the materials was also independent of the strain rate, if it is kept below a maximum strain rate. Finally, the mechanical properties of the materials predicted by the Chenoweth C/H/O parameterization for ReaxFF are compared with literature values. Some deficiencies in the Chenoweth C/H/O parameterization for predicting mechanical properties of carbon materials are observed.