6533b85afe1ef96bd12b9fb3
RESEARCH PRODUCT
Anomalous scaling of the critical temperature of unmixing with chain length for two-dimensional polymer blends
Marcus MüllerKurt BinderA. CavalloA. Cavallosubject
chemistry.chemical_classificationQuantitative Biology::BiomoleculesMaterials scienceMonte Carlo methodIntermolecular forceGeneral Physics and AstronomyThermodynamicsTwo-dimensional polymerPolymerCondensed Matter::Soft Condensed MatterChain (algebraic topology)chemistryPolymer blendConfined spaceScalingdescription
The thermodynamics, structure and the chain configurations of symmetrical polymer mixtures confined into ultrathin films are studied by Monte Carlo simulations of the bond fluctuation model. It is shown that the Flory-Huggins–type scaling of the critical temperature (Tc ~ N) with chain length N in the bulk is replaced by a weaker increase, Tc ~ N1/2, in an ultrathin film, and this is interpreted in terms of geometric arguments. The pair-correlation function g(r) of monomers from different chains exhibits a pronounced correlation hole, and the density of intermolecular contacts zc decreases with N as zc ~ N−1/2.
| year | journal | country | edition | language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003-01-01 | Europhysics Letters (EPL) |