Entangled triblock copolymer gel: Morphological and mechanical properties

TL Chantawansri and TW Sirk and YR Sliozberg, JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL PHYSICS, 138, 024908 (2013).

DOI: 10.1063/1.4774373

The morphological and mechanical properties of entangled ABA triblock copolymer gels, where solvent were selective to the midblock, were studied as a function of polymer concentration using a novel dissipative particle dynamics model which includes a modified segmental repulsive potential that restricts chain crossing. Morphological properties, such as micelle size, distance between micelles, and the bridge fraction, were calculated as a function of concentration. Although the micelle size was shown to have a strong dependence on concentration, the bridge fraction and distance between micelles were shown to plateau at moderate concentrations. Deformation under uni-axial tension was also performed to extract the cross-link and entanglement contribution to the elastic modulus. Scaling results qualitatively agree with other theoretical predications. http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4774373

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