https://doi.org/10.1140/epje/i2010-10680-5
Regular Article
Effects of compositional asymmetry in phase behavior of ABA triblock copolymer melts from Monte Carlo simulation
Faculty of Physics, A. Mickiewicz University, ul. Umultowska 85, 61-614, Poznan, Poland
* e-mail: mbanasz@amu.edu.pl
Received:
22
September
2010
Accepted:
15
November
2010
Published online:
2
December
2010
We simulate ABA triblock copolymer melts using a lattice Monte Carlo method, known as cooperative motion algorithm, probing various degrees of compositional asymmetry. Selected order-disorder transition lines are determined in terms of the segment incompatibility, quantified by product 
N , and the triblock asymmetry parameters, 
and 
. We correlate the results of the simulation with the self-consistent field theory and an experimental study of polyisoprene-polystyrene-polyisoprene triblock melt by Hamersky and coworkers. In particular, we confirm the mean-field prediction that for highly asymmetric triblocks the short A -block is localized in the middle of the B -domain due to an entropic advantage. This results in the middle block relaxation and is consistent with the experimental data indicating that as the relatively short A -blocks are grown into AB diblock, from the B -block side, the order-disorder transition temperature is considerably depressed.
© EDP Sciences, SIF, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, 2010
