Computational simulation of phase separation dynamics for blend of polymers containing interactive chain ends

The dynamics of phase separation for blends of polymers containing interactive chain ends was investigated by the computational simulation with the dynamic mean field method. The attractive interaction between the chain ends was expressed by the chi parameter of a negative value. The temporal changes of the characteristic structures in the Fourier space for various values of an attractive interaction were evaluated. When an attractive interaction between chain ends becomes stronger, the phase separation is found to proceed slowly. This result suggests that the attractive chain ends behave as the virtual binding sites. When macroscopic sea-island phase constructed as the initial structure was quenched under the condition of induced micro phase separation, the dynamics of the domain structures was also investigated. In the case of more strongly segregated system, a new expanded droplet structure was found to be formed.