Testing strong-segregation theory against self-consistent field theory forblock copolymer melts

We introduce a highly efficient self-consistent-field theory (SCFT) method for examining the cylindrical and spherical block copolymer morphologies us ing a standard unit cell approximation (UCA). The method is used to calcula te the classical diblock copolymer phase boundaries deep into the strong-se gregation regime, where they can be compared with recent improvements to st rong-segregation theory (SST), The comparison suggests a significant discre pancy between the two theories indicating that our understanding of strongl y stretched polymer brushes is still incomplete. (C) 2001 American Institut e of Physics.