Small-angle X-ray scattering study of lamellar microdomains in a block copolymer

Lamellar microdomains formed in the solvent-cast films of a poly[styrene-block-(ethylene-alt-propylene)] (SEP) diblock polymer were studied by small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS). The SAXS profiles, displaying a series of peculiar scattering maxima which cannot be ascribed to the higher-order diffraction maxima from a regular lamellar spacing, were analyzed based on a model of the one-dimensional paracrystal with a preferential orientation. The results suggest that these maxima are due to higher-order scattering maxima from single lamellar microdomains. The maxima suggest that the relative standard deviation for the distribution of the polystyrene lamellar size is much smaller than that of the lamellar spacing, giving rise to a situation in which the oscillation of the particle factor with scattering vector h persists up to high h values while that of the lattice factor damps to unity at low h values. The SAXS result was interpreted as being due to a bending distortion of the polystyrene lamella with a smaller thickness and a narrower thickness distribution than those of the poly(ethylene-alt-propylene) lamella. A study by transmission electron microscopy tends to support this result.