Abstract
Structure self-assembling in the spinodal decomposition (SD) of polymer blends in its late stage has been explored for a near-critical mixture of polybutadiene and polyisoprene by a time-resolved light scattering technique, with a particular emphasis on the time evolution of the interface structure. By analysis of a scaled structure factor F(x, t) ≡ I(q, t)qm(t)3 over wide ranges of a reduced scattering vector x ≡ q/qm(t) and time, it was found relevant to divide the late stage of SD into two stages, I and II. Here, I(q, t) denotes the scattered intensity as a function of the scattering vector q and time t. In the intermediate stage preceding the late one, F(x, t) became sharper with its peak at x = 1 increasing with t. However, as time elapsed, F(x, t) turned out to be universal for t, first in the range of x smaller than about 2 and then over the entire range of x accessible by the present experiment. The time interval in which the former occurred is defined as late stage I and the one in which the latter was realized is called late stage II. In late stage I, the average thickness of phase-phase interfaces decreases towards an equilibrium value and the time evolution of the interfacial area density Σ(t) does not scale with qm(t), i.e. the exponents γ and α in the power laws Σ(t) approximately t-γ and qm(t) approximately t-α do not coincide (actually, α < γ).
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 457-466 |
Number of pages | 10 |
Journal | Journal of Applied Crystallography |
Volume | 24 |
Issue number | pt 5 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1991 Oct 1 |
Externally published | Yes |
Event | 8th International Conference on Small-Angle Scattering - Leuven, Belg Duration: 1990 Aug 6 → 1990 Aug 9 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology(all)