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- Title
Loop and Bridge Conformations of ABA Triblock Comb Copolymers: A Conformational Assessment for Molecular Composites.
- Authors
Park, Jihoon; Jung, Je-Yeon; Shin, Hyun-Woo; Park, Jong-Wan; Bang, Joona; Huh, June
- Abstract
We computationally investigate the conformational behavior, "bridging" chain, between different the phase-separated domains vs "looping" chain on the same domain, for two chain architectures of ABA triblock copolymers, one with a linear architecture (L-TBC) and the other with comb architecture (C-TBC) at various segregation regimes using dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) simulations. The power-law relation between the bridge fraction (Φ) and the interaction parameter (χ) for C-TBC is found to be Φ ∼ χ − 1.6 in the vicinity of the order-disorder transition ( χ O D T ), indicating a drastic conversion from the bridge to the loop conformation. When χ further increases, the bridge-loop conversions slow down to have the power law, Φ ∼ χ − 0.18 , approaching the theoretical power law Φ ∼ χ − 1 / 9 predicted in the strong segregation limit. The conformational assessment conducted in the present study can provide a strategy of designing optimal material and processing conditions for triblock copolymer either with linear or comb architecture to be used for thermoplastic elastomer or molecular nanocomposites.
- Subjects
COPOLYMERS; ORDER-disorder transitions; PARTICLE dynamics; MANUFACTURING processes; ELASTOMERS; BLOCK copolymers; THERMOPLASTIC elastomers
- Publication
Polymers (20734360), 2022, Vol 14, Issue 11, p2301
- ISSN
2073-4360
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.3390/polym14112301