Competition of Mesoscales and Crossover to Tricriticality in Polymer Solutions

We show that the approach to asymptotic fluctuation-induced critical behavior in polymer solutions is governed by a competition between a correlation length diverging at the critical point and an additional mesoscopic length-scale, the radius of gyration. Accurate light-scattering experiments on polystyrene solutions in cyclohexane with polymer molecular weights ranging from 200,000 up to 11.4 million clearly demonstrate a crossover between two universal regimes: a regime with Ising asymptotic critical behavior, where the correlation length prevails, and a regime with tricritical theta-point behavior determined by a mesoscopic polymer-chain length.Comment: 4 pages in RevTeX with 4 figure

Microphase separation in cross-linked polymer blends: Efficient replica RPA post-processing of simulation data for homopolymer networks

We investigate the behaviour of randomly cross-linked (co)polymer blends using a combination of replica theory and large-scale molecular dynamics simulations. In particular, we derive the analogue of the random phase approximation for systems with quenched disorder and show how the required correlation functions can be calculated efficiently. By post-processing simulation data for homopolymer networks we are able to describe neutron scattering measurements in heterogeneous systems without resorting to microscopic detail and otherwise unphysical assumptions. We obtain structure function data which illustrate the expected microphase separation and contain system-specific information relating to the intrinsic length scales of our networks.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figure

Characterization of fullerenes and fullerene derivatives by small-angle neutron scattering and transmission measurements

Small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) has been shown to be an appropriate technique for the structural characterization of fullerenes (1) in solvents with strong SANS contrast (e.g. CS{sub 2}) and we have extended initial studies of C{sub 60} (1) to include C{sub 70} and C{sub 84} moieties. Deuterated solvents (e.g. toluene-d{sub 8}) have a high scattering length density (SLD), which is close to that of C{sub 60}, so there is virtually no SANS contrast with the solvent. Hence, these particles are practically {open_quotes}invisible{close_quotes} in such media, though the negative scattering length of hydrogen means that SLD of H{sup 1}-containing materials is much lower, so they have strong contrast with toluene-d{sub 8}. Thus, SANS makes it possible to study the size and shapes of modified buckyballs and this paper describes the first results on cyclohexane-substituted fullerenes

Comparison of the Behavior of Polymers in Supercritical Fluids and Organic Solvents Via Small Angle Neutron Scattering

Small-angle neutron scattering has been used to study the effect of temperature and pressure on the phase behavior of semidilute solutions of polymers dissolved in organic and supercritical solvents. Above the theta temperature (To), these systems exhibit a ''good solvent'' domain, where the molecules expand beyond the unperturbed dimensions in both organic solvents and in COZ. However, this transition can be made to occur at a critical ''theta pressure'' (PO) in CO2 and this represents a new concept in the physics of polymer-solvent systems. For T < To, and P < Po, the system enters the ''poor solvent'' domain where diverging concentration fluctuations prevent the chains from collapsing and allow them to maintain their unperturbed dimensions

Morphological changes in the cellulose and lignin components of biomass occur at different stages during steam pretreatment

International audienceMorphological changes to the different components of lignocellulosic biomass were observed as they occurred during steam pretreatment by placing a pressure reaction cell in a neutron beam and collecting time-resolved neutron scattering data. Changes to cellulose morphology occurred mainly in the heating phase, whereas changes in lignin morphology occurred mainly in the holding and cooling phases. During the heating stage, water is irreversibly expelled from cellulose microfibrils as the elementary fibrils coalesce. During the holding phase lignin aggregates begin to appear and they increase in size most noticeably during the cooling phase. This experiment demonstrates the unique information that in situ small angle neutron scattering studies of pretreatment can provide. This approach could be useful in optimizing the heating, holding and cooling stages of pretreatments to allow the exact size and nature of lignin aggregates to be controlled in order to enhance enzyme accessibility to cellulose and therefore the efficiency of biomass conversion

Recent developments and projects in SANS instrumentation at LLB-Orphée

This article presents an overview of the recent developments in SANS and GISANS instrumentation at LLB-Orphée. SANS is a well-known technique, especially well adapted for research in material sciences, soft matter and nanosciences, which has proved to be particularly powerful to study complex systems, from nm to μm, taking full advantage of isotopic labelling and contrast variation methods. In this article, two instruments will be described in some details: TPA, the new VSANS (Very-Small Angle Neutron Scattering) instrument which is now fully functional and PA20, the new SANS spectrometer under construction, which will extend LLB’s capabilities in terms of SANS for magnetism with a polarized neutron option and Grazing Incidence SANS (GISANS)