title: Morphology of symmetric ABCD tetrablock quaterpolymers studied by Monte Carlo simulation.
abstract: Morphology of symmetric ABCD tetrablock quaterpolymers in melt was studied by the Monte Carlo (MC) simulation, where the volume fractions of the block chains, f, kept the relationships of fA=fDand fB=fC, and the volume fraction of the two mid-blocks φ was defined as φ=fB+fC. Previous self-consistent field theory for ABCD reported morphological change including several structures; however, the scope was limited within a two-dimensional system. To the contrary, in this paper, MC simulations were carried out in three dimensions with changing the φ value finely, which resulted in finding a tetracontinuous structure in the range of 0.625≤φ≤0.75. Moreover the tetracontinuous structure has been found to be the gyroid structure, and the mean curvature of the B/C interface is nearly zero. We concluded that the B/C interface must be the Schoen gyroid surface, one of three-dimensional periodic minimal surfaces. The geometrical nature of the A/B interface should be equivalent to that of the C/D interface, and they stand as level surfaces to the Schoen gyroid surface.
authors.affiliation: Computing Research Center, High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK), Oho 1, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0801, Japan.
authors.forename: Jiro
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.affiliation: Chemical and Biological Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Nagoya University, Furo-Cho, Chikusa-Ku, Nagoya 464-8603, Japan.
authors.forename: Atsushi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Takano
authors.affiliation: Chemical and Biological Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Nagoya University, Furo-Cho, Chikusa-Ku, Nagoya 464-8603, Japan.
authors.forename: Yushu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Matsushita