Eur. Phys. J. B 10, 497-507 (1999)
https://doi.org/10.1007/s100510050879

Secondary super-structures in random copolymers

Department of Applied Mathematics, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK

Corresponding author: ^a a.semenov@leeds.ac.uk

Received: 15 July 1998
Revised: 18 January 1999
Published online: 15 August 1999

Abstract

Secondary domain superstructures in correlated random block copolymers are considered theoretically using the concept of the second order parameter related to fluctuations of the local mean block length. It is shown that the size of secondary domains, Λ, is much larger than the primary domain size, L: , while , where ϵ is a small parameter defining the composition asymmetry. Different secondary morphologies are characterized. It is also shown that separation of the system in two macroscopic phases with different primary morphologies predicted earlier using the free energy expansion up to (ψ is the usual order parameter related to local composition) is an artifact of this widely accepted theoretical model.