Modeling Studies of the Phase Behavior of Monomer/Polymer/Disk Composites

The model developed by Balazs et al. to explain the phase behavior of polymer/clay composites is extended to monomer/polymer/clay composites, obtaining an expression for the free energy of a monomer/polymer/thin-disk mixture. By minimizing the free energy and calculating the chemical potentials of the three system components, phase diagrams for the monomer/disk and monomer/polymer/disk mixtures are contructed. Through the evolution and comparison of these diagrams, the effects of nanodisk size, polymer molecular mass and interaction parameters (temperature) on mixture stability and attained morphology are then studied.