Birefringence behavior of a flexible S-SEB-S/PPE nano-alloy

We obtained a flexible nano-alloy with a continuous soft, lacy SEB matrix after blending a high-styrene-content styrene- b -styrene- co -butadiene- b -styrene triblock copolymer (S-SEB-S) with a modified poly(2,6-dimethyl-l,4-phenylene ether) (PPE). The simultaneous stress and birefringence measurements revealed that the orientation of the glassy domain is suppressed, and only the soft SEB segments are oriented from the lower strain region in the nano-alloy when compared with those in the S-SEB-S material. Consequently, the S-SEB-S/PPE nano-alloy is flexible despite its blending of the high-styrene-content S-SEB-S with a high-strength PPE.