Morphological behavior of model poly(ethylene‐alt‐propylene)‐b‐polylactide diblock copolymers
Abstract
A set of well‐defined poly(ethylene‐alt‐propylene)‐b‐polylactide (PEP‐PLA) diblock copolymers containing volume fractions of PLA (fPLA) ranging between 0.08 and 0.91 were synthesized by a combination of living anionic polymerization, catalytic hydrogenation, and controlled coordination‐insertion ring‐opening polymerization. The morphological behavior of these relatively low‐molecular‐weight PEP‐PLA diblock copolymers was investigated with a combination of rheology, small‐angle X‐ray scattering, and differential scanning calorimetry. The ordered microstructures observed were lamellae (L), hexagonally packed cylinders (C), spheres (S), and gyroid (G), a bicontinous cubic morphology having Ia3d space group symmetry. The G morphology existed in only a small region between the L‐C morphologies in close proximity to the order–disorder transition (ODT). Transformations from L to G were observed upon heating in several samples. The efficacy of the reverse G to L transition in one sample was cooling rate dependent. The PEP‐PLA Flory–Huggins interaction parameter as a function of temperature χPEP‐PLA(T) was estimated fromTODT's by mean‐field theory and subsequently used in the construction of the experimental PEP‐PLA morphology diagram (χNversusfPLA). The resultant morphology diagram was symmetric there were the well‐defined L‐C morphology boundaries. The low molecular weight of the materials imparted no significant deviation from previously documented diblock systems. © 2002 Wiley Per…
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Since the hard block is poly(lactide), at a fixed molar mass, decreasing the polarity of the midblock segment effectively increases the segregation strength of the two blocks.
“Since in this work the hard block is poly(lactide), at a fi xed molar mass, decreasing the polarity of the midblock segment e ff ectively increases the segregation strength of the two blocks. 11,13,64,85 -89”
From Aliphatic Polyester Block Polymer Design (2016) · cites this paper as [87]
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- Authors
- Schmidt, S. C., & Hillmyer, M. A.
- Affiliations
- University of Minnesota (US)
- Corresponding author
- Hillmyer, Marc A.
- ORCID
- Hillmyer, Marc A.
- Venue
- Journal of Polymer Science Part B: Polymer Physics
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2002-08-26
- Volume
- 40
- Issue
- 20
- Pages
- 2364-2376
- ISSN
- 0887-6266 (ISSN-L)
- 1099-0488
- OpenAlex
- W2057763799
- Cited by
- 58
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 1 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 1 · 2015: 3 · 2014: 1 · 2013: 2 · 2012: 4
- FWCI
- 2.34
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Polymer Science Part B Polymer Physics (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Materials Chemistry › Block Copolymer Self-Assembly
- Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Polymers and Plastics › Polymer crystallization and properties
- Physical Sciences › Chemistry › Organic Chemistry › Advanced Polymer Synthesis and Characterization
- Keywords
- diblock copolymers, block copolymer morphology, order-disorder transition, gyroid morphology, lamellar morphology, hexagonal cylinders, sphere, morphology diagram, Flory-Huggins interaction parameter, living anionic polymerization, ring-opening polymerization, catalytic hydrogenation, low molecular weight polymers
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