Abstract
We study the phase behavior of a symmetrical binary AB polymer blend confined into a thin film. The film surfaces interact with the monomers via short range potentials. One surface attracts the A component and the corresponding semi-infinite system exhibits a first order wetting transition. The surface interaction of the opposite surface is varied as to study the crossover from capillary condensation for symmetric surface fields to the interface localization/delocalization transition for antisymmetric surface fields. In the former case the phase diagram has a single critical point close to the bulk critical point. In the latter case the phase diagram exhibits two critical points which correspond to the prewetting critical points of the semi-infinite system. Only below a triple point there is a single two phase coexistence region.
The dependence of the phase behavior for antisymmetric boundaries is studied as a function of the film thickness. Upon reducing the film thickness we can change the order of the interface localization/delocalization transition from first to second. The role of fluctuations is explored via Monte Carlo simulations of a coarse grained lattice model. Close to the (prewetting) critical points we observe 2D Ising critical behavior. The rich crossover behavior between Ising critical and tricritical behavior and the corresponding mean field behaviors as a function of film thickness is investigated. At lower temperatures capillary waves of the AB interface lead to a pronounced dependence of the effective interface potential on the lateral system size.
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Müller, M. (2002). Phase Behavior of Binary Polymer Blends in Thin Films. In: Landau, D.P., Lewis, S.P., Schüttler, HB. (eds) Computer Simulation Studies in Condensed-Matter Physics XIV. Springer Proceedings in Physics, vol 89. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-59406-9_29
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-59406-9_29
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