Morphological-evolution pathway during phase separation in polymer solutions with highly asymmetrical miscibility gap

作者：Zhang, Gang; Yang, Tao^*; Yang, Sen; Wang, Yunzhi^*

来源：Physical Review E, 2017, 96(3): 032501.

DOI：10.1103/PhysRevE.96.032501

• TO-CLUSTER TRANSITION
• PARTICLE DYNAMICS SIMULATION
• SPINODAL DECOMPOSITION
• MEMBRANE FORMATION
• DOMAIN-GROWTH
• LIGHT-SCATTERING
• MOLECULAR-WEIGHT
• PERCOLATION
• MIXTURE
• SYSTEM

Microstructural evolution during thermally induced phase separation in a polymer solution with a highly asymmetrical miscibility gap is analyzed using Flory-Huggins thermodynamics and nonlinear Cahn-Hilliard kinetics. Computer simulation results demonstrate that, in contrast to systems with symmetric miscibility gaps, interesting morphological-evolution pathways (MEPs) including cluster-to-percolation and percolation-to-cluster transitions are identified. These MEPs are rationalized according to asynchronous evolution of the two product phases. For a highly asymmetric polymer system, the initial solution composition is also found to play a critical role in determining the MEPs. According to the simulation results a map of MEPs in terms of initial solution composition and aging time of phase separation is established to guide future microstructural design in asymmetrical polymer solutions.

• 出版日期2017-9-11
• 单位西安交通大学