On thermodynamic stability of heteropolymer mesophases formed under weak segregation regime

Abstract

Conditions of local and global thermodynamic stability of spatially-periodic mesophases formed in an incompressible melt of binary monodisperse copolymers with molecules of arbitrary chemical structure are theoretically scrutinized. For the first time a bifurcation analysis of the Landau free energy in the first harmonic approximation is carried out. Based upon this analysis, feasible scenarios of bifurcation and phase transitions between mesophases of different morphology are discussed. The description of thermodynamic behavior of some systems is presented to exemplify the implementation of the approach proposed.