Formation and dissolution of phase-separated structures in ultrathin blend films

✍ Scribed by Brett D. Ermi; Alamgir Karim; Jack F. Douglas

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1998
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 354 KB
• Volume: 36
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0887-6266
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-0488(19980115)36:1<191::aid-polb21>3.0.co;2-6

✦ Synopsis

The phase separation of ultrathin polymer blend films of deuterated poly-(styrene)/poly(vinylmethylether) leads to a variety of film morphologies, depending on polymer composition. Phase-separation measurements are made at a constant temperature difference from the critical temperature, leading to a bicontinuous spinodal decomposition pattern for near-critical blend compositions and to ''mounds'' and ''holes'' for PVME-rich and dPS-rich off-critical mixtures, respectively. Reverse temperature jumps of the phase-separated blend films into the one-phase region result in dissolution of the undulating surface patterns, confirming the phase-separation origin of the film patterns.