We report the temperature dependence of the Flory-Huggins interaction parameter for three symmetric diblock copolymer systems containing poly(cyclohexylethylene) (PCHE): poly(cyclohexylethylene-b-ethylene) (CE), poly(cyclohexylethylene-b-ethylethylene) (CEE), and poly(cyclohexylethylene-b-ethylenepropylene) (CP). Order-disorder transition temperatures (TODT) were determined using dynamic mechanical spectroscopy and interpreted with mean-field theory, (χN)ODT = 10.5, leading to well-defined expressions for χ(T). These results have been analyzed in the context of solubility parameter (δ) theory resulting in a unique parameter δC that describes the interactions in CE, CP, and CEE, where δC < δEE < δP < δE with (δE - δC) ≈ 1.6 MPa1/2 at 500 K. In contrast to the predictions of group contribution theory, this indicates that δC is in surprisingly close proximity to the solubility parameter for poly(dimethylsiloxane).
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/eric_cochran/7/