Premium
Scattered intensity by a cross‐linked polymer blend
Author(s) -
Bettachy Amina,
Derouiche Abdelali,
Benhamou Mabrouk,
Benmouna Mustapha,
Vilgis Thomas A.,
Daoud Mohamed
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
macromolecular theory and simulations
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.37
H-Index - 56
eISSN - 1521-3919
pISSN - 1022-1344
DOI - 10.1002/mats.1995.040040104
Subject(s) - intensity (physics) , polystyrene , ether , polymer , inverse , neutron scattering , materials science , constant (computer programming) , scattering , polymer chemistry , physics , chemistry , optics , composite material , mathematics , organic chemistry , geometry , computer science , programming language
Cross‐linked mixtures of polystyrene and poly(vinyl methyl ether) exhibit a non‐vanishing zero‐angle intensity in small‐angle neutron scattering experiments. A possible explanation is that fluctuations in composition in the mixture may be frozen by the presence of cross‐links. Assuming this, we introduce a screening length κ by the condition that the scattered intensity should not be changed by cross‐linking. We find κ 2 ∼ C /(χ − χ i ), where C is an elastic constant, χ and χ i , respectively, the inverse temperature and that where cross‐linking is performed. When the temperature is varied, we find three regimes. In the first one, the scattered intensity is monotonously decreasing. In the second one, it has a finite maximum. In the last one, the maximum eventually diverges.