FREE-ENERGY FUNCTIONALS FOR SEMIFLEXIBLE POLYMER-SOLUTIONS AND BLENDS

We present free energy functionals that describe the phase behavior of polymers of arbitrary flexibility in solution and in binary blends. The functionals were calculated from a microscopic model of wormlike chains and depend only on a small set of parameters, most of which can be measured from the pure components. These parameters are the Flory chi parameter, which measures the strength of isotropic interactions, the Maier-Saupe parameter, which measures the strength of anisotropic interactions, and the pure-component bending rigidities and molecular weights. The free energy expressions provide the basis for bulk and interfacial thermodynamic analysis of liquid crystalline and conjugated polymer solutions and blends.