U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

PUBLICATIONS

Phase Separation in Ultrathin Polymer Films

Published

Author(s)

Alamgir Karim, Jack F. Douglas, Li Piin Sung, B D. Ermi

Abstract

Changes in phase separation morphology occurring in thin polymer blend films is discussed. These changes are especially large when the films are thinner than the scale of the bulk material interfacial profile width. Under these circumstances, phase separation occurs within the plane of the film. Notably, the observation of in-plane phase separation requires that one of the components segregate preferentially to both boundaries.(The film stratifies into a bilayer if one blend components segregates to the air and the other to the substrate surface.) Optical and atomic force microscopy provide unique opportunities for studying ultathin film phase separation in real space.
Citation
Encylopedia of Materials Science and Technology
Volume
a book chapter
Pub Type
Journals

Keywords

2-D phase separation, blend phase separation, finite size effects, ultrathin films

Citation

Karim, A. , Douglas, J. , Sung, L. and Ermi, B. (2002), Phase Separation in Ultrathin Polymer Films, Encylopedia of Materials Science and Technology (Accessed June 19, 2025)

Issues

If you have any questions about this publication or are having problems accessing it, please contact [email protected].

Created January 1, 2002, Updated February 17, 2017
Was this page helpful?