Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 February 2011
Polymer solutions comprising stiff-chain polyester and flexible polysulfone were examined via light scattering techniques. Results were analyzed using the Stein-Wilson extension of the Debye-Bueche theory, in which the correlation lengths due to orientation fluctuations and mean-squared fluctuations of the molecular anisotropy were obtained. For a molecular dispersion, the correlation length is small and a function of concentration; as the anisotropy is attributed to the rod molecules. Aggregation of rods is associated with an increase in the magnitude and size of the density fluctuations, and a change in anisotropy fluctuations is dependent on the degree of orientation correlation of the rods in the aggregate. Blends prepared by solution casting were studied by a small-angle light scattering method. Results thus far demonstrate that aggregates are present in most of the rod/coil composites prepared.