Lennard-Jones chain mixtures: radial distribution functions from Monte Carlo simulation

Abstract

Radial distribution functions are calculated for binary Lennard-Jones chain mixtures from Monte Carlo simulation. Average and end-to-end inter- and intrachain radial distribution functions are calculated, ten for a binary mixture and four for a pure component. The effects of density, concentration, temperature, chain length, Lennard-Jones size and energy parameters are investigated. It is found that intrachain radial distribution functions are largely independent of density except at very high densities, where they start to take on a structure tending towards that of a crystal lattice. In addition, the effect of using different distribution functions to calculate the associating contribution in statistical associating fluid theory (SAFT) is examined. Further, the effect of using short chain fluids rather than the monomer unit as the reference system in the calculation of the pressure and free energy of chain fluids in first-order thermodynamic perturbation theory (TPT) is examined. It is found that the choice of reference radial distribution function has a marked effect on the calculation of thermodynamic properties through the use of SAFT and TPT.