The phase behavior of ten polyisoprene-polystyrene (PI-PS) diblock copolymers, spanning the composition range from 0.24 to 0.82 polyisoprene volume fraction (/pi), has been studied near the order-disorder transition (ODT). Dynamic mechanical spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and neutron and X-ray scattering have been used to characterize phase transition temperatures and ordered state symmetries. Five distinct microstructures were observed for this chemical system: spheres, hexagonally packed cylinders (HEX)_, lamellae (LAM), hexagonally perforated layers (HPL), and a bicontinuous cubic phase having an Ia3d space group symmetry. The bicontinuous Ia3d phase only occurs in the vicinity of the ODT between the HEX and LAM states at compositions of 0.65 £ /pi £ 0.68 and 0.36 £ /pi £ 0.39 (prior report). Farther from the ODT, within these composition ranges, the HPL phase occurs.We did not find the ordered bicontinuous double diamond (OBDD) morphology at any composition or temperature studied, and the overall phase diagram is qualitatively different from those reported previously for PI-PS block copolymers.

No abstract

No abstract

High molecular weight block copolymers can be viewed as macromolecular surfactants when blended with thermodynamically incompatible homopolymers. This Letter describes the formation of polymeric bicontinuous microemulsions in mixtures containing a model diblock copolymer and two homopolymers. Although we attribute development of this equilibrium morphology to the effects of fluctuations, mean-field theory provides a quantitative strategy for preparing the bicontinuous state at blend compositions near an isotropic Lifshitz point. [S0031-9007(97)

No abstract