Macromolecules, Vol.28, No.8, 2705-2713, 1995
Monte-Carlo Study of Symmetrical Diblock Copolymers in Selective Solvents
Systems composed of symmetric copolymer chains in selective solvents have been numerically investigated by means of Monte Carlo simulations in a cubic lattice. Different sets of the reduced attraction energy between nonbonded polymer units of the same type placed in adjacent lattice sites (i.e., of the parameters that describe the solvent quality for each polymer block) have been considered, together with different Values of the polymer volume fraction. Configurational properties of the individual chains and their blocks, averaged numbers of unit-unit or unit-solvent contacts, and quantities related with the light scattering of the systems (considering three cases : optical homopolymer, nonrefractive solvent, and isorefractive block) are calculated. All these properties can be used in the characterization of aggregation and ordered microphases (cylindrical microstructures and lamellae). Snapshots of configurations corresponding to representative systems are also shown.