title: Breakdown of dynamic scaling in thin film binary liquids undergoing phase separation.
abstract: The kinetics of phase separation in thin polymer blend films displaying discrete and bicontinuous domain morphologies are examined. For discrete domains, the correlation length xi grows as t(1/3), in agreement with a coalescence model. By plotting xi/d vs t/t(i) (initiation time), universal growth behavior is obtained for thickness values (d) from 1000 to 190 nm. In contrast, bicontinuous domains grow with a decreasing exponent, 0.62 to 0.28, as d decreases from 900 to 90 nm (i.e., no universal growth). This slowing down with reduced dimensionality suggests suppression of lateral hydrodynamic pumping.
authors.affiliation: Materials Science and Engineering and Laboratory for Research on the Structure of Matter, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6272, USA.
authors.forename: Hyun-joong
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Chung
authors.forename: Russell J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Composto