Deformation behavior of sphere-forming trifunctional multigraft copolymer

Deformation behavior of sphere-forming trifunctional micrograft (MG) copolymer by synchrotron SAXS and rheo-optical FT-IR, on nanometer size scales and molecular level, was studied. The sample polymer films with gauge dimensions of 7×4 mm2 and a thickness of 30-40 mm were uniaxially stretched at constant strain rate of 3.2 mm/min. The presence of single first-order scattering at 0% strain indicates the presence of phase-separated spherical morphology. The molecular architecture of tri- and tetrafunctional MG copolymers determines the difference of their deformation. The results also show that the MG copolymer has a heterogeneous phase-separated structure with spherical morphology and the collective deformation from the heterogeneous phases is characterized by observing the selective orientation in the individual phases.