The microphase-separated morphology of ABC three-arm star-shaped copolymers with arm-length ratio 1:1:x is investigated by a recently proposed simulation method, the diagonal bond method.
Five kinds of two-dimensional (cylindrical) phases, three kinds of lamellar-type phases and two kinds of
continuous matrix phases are discovered. The phase diagram is presented: The progression of the
morphologies as a function of x is the following: lamella + sphere; five polygonal cylinders, [8.8.4], [6.6.6],
[8.6.4; 8.6.6], [10.6.4; 10.6.4; 10.6.6], [12.6.4]; perforated layer; lamella + cylinder; columnar piled disk;
lamella-in-sphere. Two remarkable features of ABC star polymer systems are found: first, in all phases
junction point monomers gather on lines where three interfaces meet, and second, the section of the
cylindrical phase becomes the tessellation of even-numbered polygons. The free energy of the system is
also calculated in the strong segregation limit for four kinds of simple phases, and the results are consistent
with the simulations.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.