Morphology diagrams for A2B copolymer melts: real-space self-consistent field theory

Morphology diagrams for A2B copolymer melts are constructed using real-space self-consistent field theory (SCFT). In particular, the effect of architectural asymmetry on the morphology diagram is studied. It is shown that asymmetry in the lengths of A arms in the A2B copolymer melts aids in the micr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of physics. Conference series 2012, Vol.402 (1)
Main Authors: Kumar, Rajeev, Li, Yige, Sides, Scott W, Mays, Jimmy W, Sumpter, Bobby G
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Asymmetry
Copolymers
Field theory
Melts
Micelles
Morphology
Order disorder
Parameters
Physics
Self consistent fields
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Summary:Morphology diagrams for A2B copolymer melts are constructed using real-space self-consistent field theory (SCFT). In particular, the effect of architectural asymmetry on the morphology diagram is studied. It is shown that asymmetry in the lengths of A arms in the A2B copolymer melts aids in the microphase separation. As a result, the disorder-order transition boundaries for the A2B copolymer melts are shown to shift downward in terms of χN, χ and N being the Flory's chi parameter and the total number of the Kuhn segments, respectively, in comparison with the A2B copolymers containing symmetric A arms. Furthermore, perforated lamellar (PL) and a micelle-like (M) microphase segregated morphologies are found to compete with the classical morphologies namely, lamellar, cylinders, spheres and gyroid. The PL morphology is found to be stable for A2B copolymers containing asymmetric A arms and M is found to be metastable for the parameter range explored in this work.
ISSN:1742-6588
1742-6596
DOI:10.1088/1742-6596/402/1/012042