An understanding of the dynamical features of self-assembled materials is a crucial prerequisite to any application involving processing of these materials. Theoretical descriptions of dynamics in these materials are inherently complicated due to the fact that: (i) These materials are complex fluids i.e. possess viscoelasticity (in contrast to simple Newtonian fluids whose descriptions are well developed); (ii) These materials are self-assembled, i.e. possess an inherent microstructure (or order). The latter feature contrasts with even conventionally studied complex fluids (like homogeneous polymer solutions).

Indeed, a number of unique nonintuitive observations have been reported in the context of self-assembled block copolymers. For instance shearing a lamellar diblock copolymer has shown to order it at a higher temperature, in contrast the intuitive expectation that shear would tend to disorder a material.

This project proposes to develop computational descriptions for the dynamics of self-assembled phases of multiblock copolymers. The goal of this project is two-fold: (i) To explore the utility of mesoscale simulation tools, like dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) for predicting the dynamical response of self-assembled materials. (ii) To develop simple analytical descriptions of the dynamics of these materials to possibly enable a hybrid molecular+continuum scale simulations.