Pathway controlled morphology formation in polymer systems: Reactions, shear, and microphase separation

We present a reactive dynamic mean-field density functional method that giv es insight in pathway controlled morphology formation in irreversibly react ing polymer systems that undergo simultaneous micro- and/or macrophase sepa ration. Taking reactive blending as an example for simulations, we show tha t this type of polymer processing is very effective in emulsifying incompat ible polymers and that reactions are essential in obtaining a regularly emu lsified blend. Moreover, we show that a rationally designed processing path way that includes shearing, reactions, and microphase separation can lead t o layered structures, and we propose a physical mechanism for this phenomen on.