Creating structures in polymer blends via a dissolution and phase-separation process

We show how three-dimensional structures can be formed in polymer blends from pre-existing structures. "Tape" of one polymer is inserted into a matrix of an alternative polymer to form an array of parallelepipeds. We subject this regular structure to partial dissolution in the one-phase region, before quenching the system into the two-phase region. The interplay between dissolution and phase separation can result in complex hierarchic structures. In particular, arrays of microchannels of one polymer species can be formed inside the other polymer.