Track papers across labs, topics, and trends.
Search papers, labs, and topics across Lattice.
This study explores the impact of anisotropy on the phase behavior of swollen elastomers, revealing that uniaxial swelling can induce stable lamellar microphases and alter the overall phase behavior of the material. By investigating two sources of anisotropy—uniaxial swelling and stiffness gradients—the authors demonstrate that these factors significantly influence the size and stability of microphases within the elastomer matrix. The findings provide a deeper understanding of how anisotropic conditions can lead to complex morphologies in elastomer systems, which is crucial for their applications in various fields.
Uniaxial swelling can create stable lamellar microphases in elastomers, fundamentally altering their phase behavior.
In swollen elastomers, elasticity can arrest macroscopic demixing between the polymer network and the solvent, producing stable domains of finite size. While previous theories have focused on isotropically swollen elastomers, anisotropy strongly influences the phase behavior of many related systems, such as gels and crosslinked polymer blends. Building on the approach developed in Part I of this two-part paper, we investigate the effects of two experimentally induced sources of anisotropy: uniaxial swelling and stiffness gradients. We show that uniaxial swelling can lead to the formation of stable lamellar microphases and modify phase behavior, while stiffness gradients can cause spatial variations in the characteristic microphase size.