Interfacial and topological measurements of bicontinuous polymer morphologies.
Bicontinuous morphologies are ubiquitous in nature and occur at various length scales. Topological features of two such morphologies arising in an ordered block copolymer at equilibrium and a polymer blend during spinodal decomposition are measured from three-dimensional images. Interfacial curvature, coordination number, and interjunction distance distributions exhibit remarkable similarity in these systems, despite vastly different length scales. A channel coordination of 3 is dominant in both morphologies, and topological measurements such as the Euler-Poincaré characteristic and genus are reported.
Jinnai
H
H
Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, Kyoto Institute of Technology, Kyoto 606-8585, Japan. hjinnai@ipc.kit.ac.jp
Kajihara
T
T
Watashiba
H
H
Nishikawa
Y
Y
Spontak
R J
RJ
D001672:Biocompatible Materials / Q000737:chemistry*; D001703:Biophysics / Q000379:methods*; D015233:Models, Statistical; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry*; D011336:Probability; D011487:Protein Conformation; D013499:Surface Properties
D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D011108:Polymers