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Investigation of equilibrium and non‐equilibrium states of polymer blends by small‐angle neutron scattering
Author(s) -
Schwahn D.,
Springer T.,
Janssen S.,
Hädicke E.
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
journal of applied crystallography
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.429
H-Index - 162
ISSN - 1600-5767
DOI - 10.1107/s0021889890013073
Subject(s) - spinodal decomposition , miscibility , small angle neutron scattering , neutron scattering , structure factor , polystyrene , materials science , polymer , polybutadiene , scattering , polymer blend , radius of gyration , small angle scattering , neutron , thermodynamics , polymer chemistry , condensed matter physics , chemistry , physics , phase (matter) , optics , copolymer , nuclear physics , organic chemistry , composite material
Small‐angle scattering of neutrons (SANS) has been applied to investigate the equilibrium properties of polymer blends, in particular the critical fluctuations in the homogeneous regions for d ‐PS/PS, PS/ d ‐PB and d ‐PS/PVME. The transition between mean‐field and Ising behaviours has been observed for PS/ d ‐PB about 6 K above T c . The non‐equlibrium behaviour of the SANS structure factor of d ‐PS/PS has been studied after a temperature step has been applied. Only for very small scattering vectors does the time‐dependent structure factor follow the predictions of the Cahn–Hilliard theory. Also, early stages of decomposition within the miscibility gap have been studied in this system and in d ‐PS/PVME. [PS = polystyrene; PB = polybutadiene; PVME = poly(vinyl methyl ether).]