Gibbs-Duhem integration in lattice systems

Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, 53706-1691, USA

Received: 27 January 1997
Accepted: 9 September 1997

Abstract

Gibbs-Duhem integrations are performed to trace the vapor-liquid coexistence curves of homopolymers on a lattice. The integration entails simultaneous grand canonical simulations for the two coexisting phases and, consequently, no pressure evaluations or volume moves are necessary. Since mechanical equilibration of lattice systems can be troublesome, the proposed method offers some advantages over alternative approaches for phase equilibrium simulation, such as the integration of Clapeyron's equation and the Gibbs ensemble. Simulation results are presented for homopolymers and block copolymers; good agreement is found with previous Gibbs-ensemble results for homopolymers.