Primitive chain network study on uncrosslinked and crosslinked cis-polyisoprene polymers

In this paper, the polymer chain packing and primitive path (PP) network of uncrosslinked and crosslinked cis-polyisoprene (PI) polymer are analyzed upon employing coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulation. The crosslinking effect is found to enhance intra-chain packing of PI polymers, while weakening their inter-chain packing. Surprisingly, these effects cancel each other in the global packing behavior of this polymeric system. We...