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Journal of Chemical Physics / Volume 130 / Issue 15 / ARTICLES / Polymers and Complex Systems

J. Chem. Phys. 130, 154902 (2009); http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.3105340 (12 pages)

Nucleation in A/B/AB blends: Interplay between microphase assembly and macrophase separation

Jiafang Wang1,2, Marcus Müller2, and Zhen-Gang Wang3

1State Key Laboratory of Polymer Physics and Chemistry, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130022, People’s Republic of China
2Institut für Theoretische Physik, Georg-August Universität, D-37077 Göttingen, Germany
3Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA

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(Received 19 January 2009; accepted 24 February 2009; published online 20 April 2009)

We study the interplay between microphase assembly and macrophase separation in A/B/AB ternary polymer blends by examining the free energy of localized fluctuation structures (micelles or droplets), with emphasis on the thermodynamic relationship between swollen micelles (microemulsion) and the macrophase-separated state, using self-consistent field theory and an extended capillary model. Upon introducing homopolymer B into a micelle-forming binary polymer blend A/AB, micelles can be swollen by B. A small amount of component B (below the A-rich binodal of macrophase coexistence) will not affect the stability of the swollen micelles. A large excess of homopolymer, B, will induce a microemulsion failure and lead to a macrophase separation. Between the binodal and the microemulsion failure concentration, macrophase separation in A/B/AB occurs by a two-step nucleation mechanism via a metastable microemulsion droplet of finite size. Our results illustrate a recently proposed argument that the two-step nucleation via a metastable intermediate is a general phenomenon in systems involving short-range attraction and long-range repulsion.

© 2009 American Institute of Physics

Article Outline

  1. INTRODUCTION
  2. NUMERICAL SELF-CONSISTENT FIELD THEORY
  3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
    1. Results of SCFT calculation
    2. Capillary model
  4. CONCLUSIONS

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KEYWORDS and PACS

Keywords

colloids, drops, emulsions, free energy, nucleation, phase separation, polymer blends

PACS

  • 64.75.Va

    Phase separation and segregation in polymer blends/polymeric solutions

  • 64.75.Xc

    Phase separation and segregation in colloidal systems

  • 82.70.Dd

    Colloids

  • 82.70.Kj

    Emulsions and suspensions

  • 82.70.Uv

    Surfactants, micellar solutions, vesicles, lamellae, amphiphilic systems, (hydrophilic and hydrophobic interactions)

ARTICLE DATA

Digital Object Identifier
http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.3105340

PUBLICATION DATA

ISSN

0021-9606 (print)  
1089-7690 (online)

Publisher

$abstract.society.value is a Member of CrossRef American Institute of Physics

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