Orientations of the lamellar phase of block copolymer melts under oscillatory shear flow

Abstract

We develop a theory to describe the reorientation phenomena in the lamellar phase of block copolymer melt under reciprocating shear flow. We show that similar to the steady-shear, the oscillating flow anisotropically suppresses fluctuations and gives rise to the parallel-perpendicular orientation transition. The experimentally observed high-frequency reverse transition is explained in terms of interaction between the melt and the shear-cell walls.

RevTex, 3 pages, 1 figure, submitted to PRL