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Phase behavior of polymer blends with reversiblecrosslinks—A self-consistent field theory study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 November 2013

Thomas Gruhn  and
Heike Emmerich
Thomas Gruhn*
Affiliation:
Material and Process Simulation (MPS), University of Bayreuth, D-95447 Bayreuth, Germany
Heike Emmerich*
Affiliation:
Material and Process Simulation (MPS), University of Bayreuth, D-95447 Bayreuth, Germany
*
a)Address all correspondence to these authors. e-mail: [email protected]
b)e-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

An extended version of self-consistent field (SCF) theory that was recentlyintroduced by the authors [Li et al., J. Chem. Phys.137, 024906, (2012)] is used to study the phase behavior of apolymer blend with reversible crosslinks. The system consists of symmetricAB diblock copolymers and homopolymers of typeA and B. We consider reversible crosslinksthat can form between the diblock copolymers with a crosslink strengthz and crosslink weights ωA and ωB for monomers of type A and B,respectively. Crosslinks between homopolymers are disabled. We present a phasediagram as a function of the A fraction of homopolymers $\phi _{\rm{\alpha }}^{{\rm{rel}}}$, the crosslink strength z, and the crosslinkasymmetry ∆ω = ωA − ωB. A hexagonal phase is found for suitably large $\phi _{\rm{\alpha }}^{{\rm{rel}}}$, and suitably small z and $\left| {\Delta {\rm{\omega }}} \right|$. Otherwise the system forms a lamellar phase. A deeper insightinto the phase behavior is gained from analyzing the free energy contributionsin the hexagonal and the lamellar phase with the help of the capabilities of theextended SCF theory developed by us.

Keywords

polymernanostructurephase transformation
Type
Invited Feature Papers
Information
Journal of Materials Research , Volume 28 , Issue 22 , 28 November 2013 , pp. 3079 - 3085
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2013 

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