Further investigations into conformational transitions in a lattice model of three-component mixtures of solvent, amphiphile and soluble polymers

We use a hybrid Monte Carlo scheme to simulate a lattice model of a three-c omponent mixture of solvent, amphiphile and polymer. The model is based on the Schick model with additional conditions of excluded volume and connecti vity for the polymer. We find a non-trivial phase diagram emerging as the r elative chemical potential and the strengths of the three-body amphiphilic interaction are varied. The polymer undergoes several conformational transi tions as the system goes from the solvent-rich to the amphiphile-rich phase . As the polymer chain length and concentration are increased, the strength and number of these conformational transitions increase. We examine the di fferent lamellar self-assembled phases in the multi-chain regime and invest igate the relationship between the characteristic micelle concentration (CM C) and the collapse of the polymer.