Diblock Copolymer Mixture (original) (raw)

Abstract

Thermal composition fluctuations in a three component mixture of the two homopolymers PB/PS of critical composition mixed with different amounts of a symmetric diblock copolymer PB-PS were explored with small angle neutron scattering (SANS)[PB: poly(butadiene); PS: poly(styrene)]. The diblock copolymer was of about 6.3 times larger molar volume than the homopolymers. Samples with two different scattering contrasts, namely, dPB/PS/dPB-PS and dPB/dPS/dPB-PS ("d" means deuterated) were prepared for better characterization the phase diagram. Phase boundaries of various ordered phases including two critical universality classes and the Lifshitz line (LL) were determined. Strong thermal fluctuations lead to a non-monotonic LL, to droplet and bicontinuous micro emulsion phases, and to a reentrant two-phase region near the LL with an upper and lower critical solution temperature and a double critical point (DCP). The expected doubling of the Lifshitz critical exponent of the susce...

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