W. Winoto1, Sugata P. Tan1, Maciej Radosz1, Kunlun Hong2, and Jimmy Mays2. (1) Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, University of Wyoming, 1000 E. University Ave, Laramie, WY 82071, (2) Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831
If the styrene block is large enough, polystyrene-block-polydiene copolymers and their deuterated analogs self assemble into micelles upon cooling as well as upon decompression. The micellization boundary curve in pressure-temperature coordinates lies above the copolymer cloud-point curve. These curves can be realistically estimated within a Statistical Associating Fluid Theory (SAFT1) framework, including the onset of micelle formation, without any correction to the interaction energy between segments belonging to different blocks. This work is funded by NSF Grant CTS-0244388 and ORNL User Grant CNMS2006-114.