Volumetric behavior of athermal dendritic polymers: Monte Carlo simulation

We present results of Monte Carlo simulations for dilute to concentrated so lutions of athermal, homogeneous dendritic polymers. The dendritic polymers are composed of tangent hard-spheres and vary from generation 0 to generat ion 5. These simulations investigate the effect of hyperbranching on the st ructure and thermodynamics of polymer solutions. At low concentrations, den dritic polymers systems have a lower pressure than linear polymers of the s ame molecular weight, owing to the more compact architecture of the dendrim er. In the concentrated polymer regime, solutions containing low-generation dendrimers behave similarly to linear polymers, while those containing hig h-generation dendrimers have a pressure that increases more rapidly with co ncentration.