Rheological studies on the phase dissolution in a block copolymer

The microphase transition in a styrene-butadiene-styrene triblock copolymer was studied by rheometric mechanical spectroscopy. A high-temperature-melt rheological transition from the highly elastic, nonlinear viscous behavior typical of a multiphase structure to linear viscous behavior with insignificant elasticity typical of a single-phase structure was observed. The transition temperature is determined according to the discontinuity of the rheological properties across the transition region, which agrees well with the results obtained from the small angle X-ray scattering data and the expectation of the random phase approximation theory. Maybe for the first time, microphase dissolution was investigated theologically. The storage modulus (G') and the loss modulus (G '') increase with time during the process. An entanglement fluctuation model based on the segmental density fluctuations is presented to explain the rheological behavior in this dissolution process. (C) 1997 John Wiley & Sons.