Abstract
Upon heating, concentrated solutions of star polymers and block copolymer micelles in a good solvent, representing soft spheres, undergo a reversible gelation. This phenomenon is attributed to the formation of clusters causing a partial dynamic arrest of the swollen interpenetrating spheres at high temperatures. A phase diagram analogous to that of sterically stabilized colloids is proposed.
- Received 27 April 2000
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.85.4072
©2000 American Physical Society