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Updated: May 8, 2026

Confocal Imaging of Confined Quiescent and Flowing Colloid-polymer Mixtures
Published on: May 20, 2014
Effect of arm exchange on the liquid-solid transition of dense suspensions of star polymers
Fanny Puaud1, Taco Nicolai, Lazhar Benyahia
1Institut des Molécules et Matériaux du Mans (UMR CNRS 6283), LUNAM, Université du Maine , Avenue Olivier Messiaen, 72085 Le Mans Cedex 9, France.
Abstract:
Star polymers with dynamic arm exchange are formed in water by self-assembly of amphiphilic diblock copolymers based on poly(ethylene oxide) end capped with a small hydrophobic block. The arm exchange was arrested in situ by photo-cross-linking of the core. The effect of dynamic arm exchange on the osmotic compressibility and viscosity was investigated systematically as a function of the concentration and temperature. The discontinuous liquid-solid transition reported for dense polymeric micelle suspensions was found to be preserved after dynamic arm exchange was arrested in situ. The effect of cross-linking and aggregation number on the liquid-solid transition was investigated.
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