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Gerrit ten Brinke

Publications and source records attributed to Gerrit ten Brinke.

2 recordsLinked to original sources

Compositional and orientational ordering in rod-coil diblock copolymer melts

The phase behavior of a melt of monodisperse rod-coil diblocks is studied. We derive a Landau free energy functional for both a compositional and a nematic order parameter. The excluded volume interaction between the rod blocks is modeled by an attractive Maier-Saupe interaction. The incompatibility between rod- and coil blocks is modeled by the usual Flory-Huggins interaction. For a large volume fraction of the rods, a transition from isotropic to nematic to smectic C is observed upon decreasing the temperature, whereas for small rod volume fraction, spherical, hexagonal, and lamellar structures prevail. In the smectic C phase, the rod orientation angle with respect to the lamellar normal increases rapidly from 35 to 40 degrees close to the nematic/smectic-C phase boundary to values between 45 and 55 degrees.

cond-mat.soft↗

Ordering at two length scales in comb-coil diblock copolymers consisting of only two different monomers

The microphase separated morphology of a melt of a specific class of comb-coil diblock copolymers, consisting of an AB comb block and a linear homopolymer A block, is analyzed in the weak segregation limit. On increasing the length of the homopolymer A block, the systems go through a characteristic series of structural transitions. Starting from the pure comb copolymer the first series of structures involve the short length scale followed by structures involving the large length scale. A maximum of two critical points exists. Furthermore, in the two parameter space, characterizing the comb-coil diblock copolymer molecules considered, a non-trivial bifurcation point exists beyond which the structure factor can have two maxima (two correlation hole peaks).

cond-mat.soft↗