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Journal of Adhesion, Vol.81, No.7-8, 683-698, 2005
Dewetting and adsorption in homopolymer films containing triblock copolymers: Role of chain architecture and anchoring block molar fraction
Triblock copolymer additives are found to stabilize thin-film dewetting of B-type homopolymers with degree of polymerization (DOP) P deposited on silicon oxide. The triblock copolymers' architectures are ABA and BAB, where A and B represent anchoring and nonadsorbing blocks with DOP's N-A and N-B, respectively. Upon adding 1 vol. % of the ABA additive, dewetting is only observed for anchoring block molar fractions, f(A), below 4%. Dewetting is arrested in films containing 1 vol. % ABA, BAB, or AB that have similar values of f(A) similar to 8%, showing that chain architecture is not the only indicator of a successful additive. Compared with films containing diblock copolymers, the interfacial excess, z*, of triblock copolymers at the melt/substrate interface is relatively small as measured by low-energy forward-recoil spectrometry. Because adsorbed copolymers can reduce the capillary driving force for dewetting and participate in entanglements with matrix chains, the higher coverage and grafting density observed for diblock copolymers suggests that diblocks are more effective than triblocks in improving thin-film stability.