Morphology of symmetric ABCD tetrablock quaterpolymers studied by Monte Carlo simulation

• Published in: The Journal of chemical physics 2016-11, Vol.145 (19), p.194905-194905
• Main Authors: Suzuki, Jiro, Takano, Atsushi, Matsushita, Yushu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Computer simulation; Curvature; Field theory; Mathematical morphology; Minimal surfaces; Monte Carlo simulation; Morphology; Physics
• ISSN: 0021-9606; 1089-7690
• DOI: 10.1063/1.4967970

Morphology of symmetric ABCD tetrablock quaterpolymers in melt was studied by the Monte Carlo (MC) simulation, where the volume fractions of the block chains, f, kept the relationships of f A = f D and f B = f C , and the volume fraction of the two mid-blocks φ was defined as φ = f B + f C . Previous self-consistent field theory for ABCD reported morphological change including several structures; however, the scope was limited within a two-dimensional system. To the contrary, in this paper, MC simulations were carried out in three dimensions with changing the φ value finely, which resulted in finding a tetracontinuous structure in the range of 0.625 ≤ φ ≤ 0.75 . Moreover the tetracontinuous structure has been found to be the gyroid structure, and the mean curvature of the B/C interface is nearly zero. We concluded that the B/C interface must be the Schoen gyroid surface, one of three-dimensional periodic minimal surfaces. The geometrical nature of the A/B interface should be equivalent to that of the C/D interface, and they stand as level surfaces to the Schoen gyroid surface.