Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-cfpbc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T12:02:11.993Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Interfacial Properties of Isotropic Semi-Flexible Polymer Blends

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 February 2011

Andrea J. Liu
Affiliation:
Department of Chemical and Nuclear Engineering University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106
Glenn H. Fredrickson
Affiliation:
Department of Chemical and Nuclear Engineering University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106
Get access

Abstract

We analyze interfacial behavior in binary blends of polymers with different flexibilities. Our starting point is a free energy functional calculated from a microscopic model of wormlike chains. We show how this functional can be used to calculate interfacial properties within the Cahn-Hilliard approach. Here we present preliminary results applicable to chains that are globally coil-like. At the interface between two isotropic phases, each rich in a different polymer, we find that the polymers tend to be extended parallel to the interface. Thus their shape is oblate rather than spherical at the interface.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

[1] Polymer Liquid Crystals, ed. Ciferri, A., Krigbaum, W. R. and Meyer, R. B. (Academic Press, New York, 1982).Google Scholar
[2] Cao, Y. and Smith, P., preprint.Google Scholar
[3] Bates, F. S., Schulz, M. S., Rosedale, J. H. and Almdal, K., Macromolecules 25, 5547 (1992).Google Scholar
[4] Liu, A. J. and Fredrickson, G. H., Macromolecules 25, 5551 (1992).Google Scholar
[5] Liu, A. J. and Fredrickson, G. H., preprint.Google Scholar
[6] Flory, P. J., Principles of Polymer Chemistry (Cornell University Press, 1953).Google Scholar
[7] Bosch, A. Ten, Pinton, J. F., Maissa, P. and Sixou, P., J. Phys. A 20, 4531 (1987).Google Scholar
[8] Carton, J.-P. and Leibler, L., J. Phys. (France) 51, 1683 (1990).Google Scholar
[9] Fredrickson, G. H. and Leibler, L., Macromolecules 23, 531 (1990).Google Scholar
[10] Saito, N., Takahashi, K. and Yunoki, Y., J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. 22, 219 (1967).Google Scholar
[11] Luckhurst, G. R. and Zannoni, C., Nature 267, 412 (1977).Google Scholar
[12] Note that the raised indices as in S ij do not denote contravariance, but are used throughout for convenience of notation.Google Scholar
[13] Cahn, J. W. and Hilliard, J. E., J. Chem. Phys. 28, 258 (1958).Google Scholar
[14] Szleifer, I. and Widom, B., J. Chem. Phys. 90, 7524 (1989).Google Scholar
[15] Helfand, E. and Tagami, Y., J. Polym. Sci. B 9, 741 (1971); J. Chem. Phys. 56, 3592 (1971).Google Scholar
[16] Broseta, D., Fredrickson, G. H., Helfand, E. and Leibler, L., Macromolecules 23, 132 (1990).Google Scholar
[17] Helfand, E. and Sapse, A. M., J. Chem. Phys. 62, 1327 (1975).Google Scholar
[18] Flory, P. J., Macromolecules 11, 1138 (1978).Google Scholar
[19] Bates, F., private communicationGoogle Scholar