Monte Carlo simulation of diblock copolymer microphases by means of a fastoff-lattice model

We present a mesoscopic off-lattice model for the simulation of diblock cop olymer melts by Monte Carlo techniques. A single copolymer molecule is mode led as a discrete Edwards chain consisting of two blocks with vertices of t ype A and B, respectively. The volume interaction is formulated in terms of coarse-grained densities of the A and B vertices. The model allows the stu dy of equilibrium conformational properties of diblock copolymer microphase s for sufficiently large system sizes. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All r ights reserved.