Effects of Polydispersity on Phase Behavior of Diblock Copolymers

The influence of polydispersity on the phase behavior of diblock copolymer melts is studied using a self-consistent field theoretic model. A perturbation theory is developed for the polydisperse system, in which the polydispersity index, κ = M w/M n − 1, is taken as a perturbation parameter. Phase diagrams are constructed using the reciprocal space method. It is found that the order−disorder transition boundary shifts to higher temperatures, as …