MICROPHASE SEPARATION OF BLOCK POLYMERS.

Block polymers composed of incompatible block chains of A and B undergo a microphase separation due to the repulsive interaction between A and B in solutions at concentrations above the critical concentration, or in bulk at temperatures below the critical temperature T//e, (for an A-B system having an upper critical solution temperature) or above T//c (for a system having a lower critical temperature). The microphase separation results in a solid-state microdomain structure, the morphology of which controls the unique physical properties of the block polymer systems. Their article reviews recent developments in the area of (i) microphase separation and phase-separated structure in solution and in bulk, (ii) solid-state microdomain structure, and (iii) the polymer-polymer interface in block polymers in the case of amorphous and linear block polymer systems having simple architectures (e. g. , polystyrene and polyisoprene or polystyrene and polybutadiene diblock or triblock polymers).