Microstructures from a mixture of ABC 3-miktoarm star terpolymers and homopolymers in two-dimensional space

Using a 2D real-space self-consistent field theory, we studied the microstructures of the mixture of ABC 3-miktoarm star terpolymer and linear homopolymers. First, we found that the microstructures depend on both the chain length and volume fraction of the linear homopolymer. Second, despite different linear homopolymer lengths, all the mixtures finally converge to the core/shell pattern after the sum of blocks and homopolymer comprises the majority. Third, some novel microstructures that are not found in the pure ABC 3-miktoarm star terpolymer are produced. These calculations are supposed to be helpful for the design of novel microstructures involving star terpolymers that blend with homopolymer.