Phase behavior of block copolymer melts with arbitrary architecture

The Leibler theory [L. Leibler, Macromolecules 13, 1602 (1980)] for microph ase separation in AB block copolymer melts is generalized for systems with arbitrary topology of molecules. A diagrammatic technique for calculation o f the monomeric correlation functions is developed. The free energies of va rious mesophases are calculated within the second-harmonic approximation. M odel highly branched tree-like structures are considered as an example and their phase diagrams are obtained. The topology of molecules is found to in fluence the spinodal temperature and asymmetry of the phase diagrams, but n ot the types of phases and their order. We suggest that all model AB block copolymer systems will exhibit the typical phase behavior. (C) 2001 America n Institute of Physics.