Y. Matsushita et al., MORPHOLOGIES AND DOMAIN SIZES OF MICROPHASE-SEPARATED STRUCTURES OF BLOCK AND GRAFT-COPOLYMERS OF DIFFERENT TYPES, Macromolecular symposia, 124, 1997, pp. 121-133
Well-defined block and graft copolymers of different types with differ
ent compositions and molecular weights, such as styrene(S)-2-vinylpyri
dine(P) diblock copolymers, SP star-shaped block copolymers, PSP tribl
ock copolymers, styrene(S)-isoprene(I) multiblock copolymers of the (S
I)(n) type, ISP triblock copolymers, SPP graft copolymers and their de
uterated samples were prepared. Variations of the morphologies with co
mpositions, molecular weight dependences of the lamellar domain sizes
and conformations and distributions of block chains in the lamellar do
mains were studied in the strong segregation limit. Besides typical mo
rphologies such as spherical, cylindrical and lamellar structures, ord
ered bi- and tri-continuous structures were found between cylindrical
and lamellar structures for SP diblock copolymers, PSP and ISP tribloc
k copolymers, respectively. The composition ranges of morphologies are
different for the block and graft copolymers of different types. The
molecular weight dependences of lamellar domain sizes are about the sa
me, but their magnitudes are not always the same for the block and gra
ft copolymers of different types. These results are well explained by
the theories of Helfand-Wasserman and Semenov. Block chains in lamella
e are extended along the direction perpendicular to lamellae, but they
are contracted along the parallel direction. The former result is wel
l explained by the theories, but the latter is not. Chains adjacent to
the junction points between different block chains are localized near
the domain interface, but chains at the free-ends of block chains are
widely distributed in the domain with the maximum at the center of do
main.