1992/01/01 by Benjamin P. Lee, Jack F. Douglas, Sharon C. Glotzer +1
Arts and Humanities · Engineering · Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · Social Sciences · #Block Copolymer Self-Assembly #Fluid Dynamics and Thin Films #Gender Roles and Identity Studies #Historical Education Studies Worldwide #Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes #Theoretical and Computational Physics #cond-mat.mtrl-sci #cond-mat.soft #cond-mat.stat-mech
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physreve.60.5812
published as Phys. Rev. E 60, 5812 (1999) · 13 pages, revtex, 12 eps figures
openalex publication_date 1992/01/01 · arxiv created 1999/06/08 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/19
The influence of immobile filler particles (spheres, fibers, platelets) on polymer-blend phase separation is investigated computationally using a generalization of the Cahn-Hilliard-Cook (CHC) model. Simulation shows that the selective affinity of one of the polymers for the filler surface leads to the development of concentration waves about the filler particles at an early stage of phase separation in near critical composition blends. These "target" patterns are overtaken in late-stage phase separation by a growing "background" spinodal pattern characteristic of blends without filler particles. The linearized CHC model is used to estimate the number of composition oscillations emanating from isolated filler particles. In far-off-critical composition blends, an "encapsulation layer" grows at the surface of the filler rather than a target pattern. The results of these simulations compare favorably with experiments on filled phase-separating ultrathin blend films in which the filler particles are immobilized on a solid substrate.