Polystyrene-polyacrylate block copolymers, methods of manufacture thereof and articles comprising the same

摘要

Disclosed herein is a block copolymer comprising a first block derived from a vinyl aromatic monomer; and a second block derived from an acrylate monomer; where a chi parameter that measures interactions between the first block and the second block is greater than or equal to about 0.05, when measured at 240° C. Disclosed herein too is a method comprising polymerizing a vinyl aromatic monomer to form a first block; and polymerizing a second block onto the first block to form a block copolymer; where the second block is derived by polymerizing an acrylate monomer; and where the block copolymer has a chi parameter of greater than or equal to about 0.05, when measured at 240° C.; where the chi parameter is a measure of interactions between the first block and the second block.

主权项

1. A block copolymer comprising:
40 to 60 volume percent of a first block derived from a vinyl aromatic monomer; where the vinyl aromatic monomer is an alkylstyrene; where the alkylstyrene is o-methylstyrene, p-methylstyrene, m-methylstyrene, α-methylstyrene, o-ethylstyrene, m-ethylstyrene, p-ethylstyrene, α-methyl-p-methylstyrene, 2,4-dimethylstyrene, p-tert-butylstyrene, or a combination thereof; and where the first block has a polydispersity index of 1.2 or less; and 40 to 60 volume percent of a second block derived from an acrylate monomer; where the acrylate monomer has a structure represented by the formula (2); where R1 is a hydrogen or an alkyl group having 1 to 10 carbon atoms and R2 is a hydrogen, a C1-10 alkyl, a C3-10 cycloalkyl, a C2-10 fluoroalkyl group, or a C7-10 aralkyl group; where a chi parameter that measures interactions between the first block and the second block is greater than or equal to about 0.05, when measured at 240° C.; and where the second block has a polydispersity index of 1.2 or less; and where the block copolymer comprises cylindrical and/or lamellar domains and has an interdomain spacing of less than or equal to about 25 nanometers.