文摘
The response of small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) to pressure for a molten block copolymer in the disordered state has been studied through a Hartree (fluctuation correction) analysis. A slightly polydisperse diblock copolymer from deuterated polystyrene and poly(n-propyl methacrylate), denoted as dPS-b-PPrMA, was chosen for our purpose, because its ordering transition is highly sensitive to pressure. It was shown that the isotherms of effective Flory-Huggins parameters χ’s from the Hartree analysis are superposed into a characteristic curve when χ is scaled by χ(P 0) at a reference pressure P 0, and plotted against pressure difference ΔP (≡P-P 0) divided by temperature dependent bulk modulus B 0 at P 0. Such a procedure required a scale factor τ, which was completely determined by B 0. The established superposition yielded the interconvertibility of temperature and pressure effects on the Hartree χ. This behavior of χ was revealed to manifest that components of χ rely on the ratio of volume V to V 0 at the reference P 0, which is an exclusive function of ΔP/B 0 to satisfy the temperature-pressure superposition concept in volumetric properties of polymeric liquids.