The morphology and dynamics of polymerization-induced phase separation

The morphology and dynamics of polymerization-induced phase separation in the initially homogeneous solution of a non-reactive component in reactive monomers are investigated by incorporating the reaction kinetics into the Cahn–Hilliard equation. Analytical results show that there is a reduction of the initial length scale in the early stage of phase separation. The reason is the increase of the molecule weight of emerging polymer, independent of the fact whether the system goes through the metastable region or not. The numerical results are in good agreement with theoretical prediction quite well.