Formation and structure of the microemulsion phase in two-dimensional ternary AB+A+B polymeric emulsions.
We present an analysis of the structure of the fluctuation-induced microemulsion phase in a ternary blend of balanced AB diblock copolymers with equal amounts of A and B homopolymers. To this end, graphical analysis methods are employed to characterize two-dimensional configuration snapshots obtained with the recently introduced field-theoretic Monte Carlo method. We find that a microemulsion forms when the mean curvature diameter of the lamellar phase coincides roughly with the periodicity of the lamellar phase. Further, we provide evidence to the effect of a subclassification of the microemulsion into a genuine and a defect-driven region.
Fakultät für Physik, Universität Bielefeld, Universitatsstrasse 25, 33615 Bielefeld, Germany.
Dominik
D
Düchs
Friederike
F
Schmid