SHEAR DEVICES FOR IN-SITU STRUCTURAL STUDIES OF BLOCK-COPOLYMER MELTS AND SOLUTIONS

Structural studies of soft material while exposed in situ to stretch or shear provide a new experimental technique which gives important insight into polymer dynamics. Such devices can be used for making single-domain block-copolymer and colloidal mesophases, and to study various growth mechanisms. In addition, combined structure and shear instruments can give detailed insight into the influence of fluctuations. Two types of shear device, the Couette cell and a parallel plate device, are presented, and some applications are shown.