Mesoscopic structure of polymer mediated microemulsion networks

(Received 9 July 1992, accepted in final form 15 July 1992)

Abstract
Water in oil microemulsions containing block-copoly(oxyethylene/isoprene/oxy-ethylene) are investigated by freeze fracture electron microscopy. Contrary to pure microemulsions, where the droplets are irregularly arranged, they are closed packed in these systems and show medium range order. This feature makes polymer containing microemulsions an interesting system to study disorder to order transitions, as it combines typical features of colloidal particle and block-copolymer systems.