Self-Consistent Field Approach for Crosslinked Copolymer Materials

TL;DR

This paper introduces a self-consistent field theory for crosslinked copolymer networks, capturing gel-like localization and analyzing phase transitions, including effects of stress and incompatibility parameters.

Contribution

It develops a generalized self-consistent field approach for polymer networks with fixed topology, revealing new insights into phase transitions and localization phenomena.

Findings

Reproduces localization of crosslinks characteristic of gels

Shows transition shifts to lower incompatibility parameters compared to melts

Identifies a first-order transition that vanishes under stress

Abstract

A generalized self-consistent field approach for polymer networks with fixed topology is developed. It is shown that the theory reproduces the localization of crosslinks which is characteristic for gels. The theory is then used to study the order-disorder transition in regular networks of endlinked diblock copolymers. Compared to diblock copolymer melts, the transition is shifted towards lower values of the incompatibility parameter $\chi$ (the Flory- Huggins parameter). Moreover, the transition becomes strongly first order already at the mean-field level. If stress is applied, the transition is further shifted and finally vanishes in a critical point.