Search results for "Polymer blend"

Filmability and properties of compatibilized PA6/LDPE blends

2005

Blends of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and polyamide 6 (PA6), compatibilized with an ethylene-acrylic acid copolymer (EAA), either alone or combined with a low molar mass bis-oxazoline compound (PBO), have been processed in film blowing operations and the properties of the films have been investigated. Without of compatibilization, the filmability of the blend was very poor and no significant specimen was collected. As a result of the reactive compatibilization, the blends with EAA and even more with the EAA-PBO, were processed successfully in film blowing. The films of the quaternary blends were shown to possess satisfactory mechanical properties as a result of fine and stable morpholog…

Phase diagram of polymer blends in confined geometry

2001

Within self-consistent field theory we study the phase behavior of a symmetrical binary AB polymer blend confined into a thin film. The film surfaces interact with the monomers via short range potentials. One surface attracts the A component and the corresponding smei-infinite system exhibits a first order wetting transition. The surface interaction of the opposite surface is varied as to study the crossover from capillary condensation for symmetric surfaces fields to the interface localization/delocalization transition for antisymmetric surface fields. In the former case the phase diagram has a single critical point close to the bulk critical point. In the latter case the phase diagram exh…

Monte Carlo Simulations of Surfaces and Interfaces in Materials

1996

Many applications of materials are controlled by their surface and interface properties. In particular, metallic alloys (but also mixed dielectric materials and amorphous polymer blends) are not homogeneously mixed on a microscopic length scale, although they are macroscopically homogeneous. Depending on the preparation of the sample, there exists a heterophase microstructure, with typical domain sizes, e.g. in the 1 to 102 µm range, separated by interfaces between them. The physical properties of such intrinsic interfaces (grain boundaries between small crystallites, antiphase domain boundaries in ordered alloys, Bloch walls in magnetic materials, etc.) are not only an important controllin…

1987

Inducing mixing of water-in water BSA/dextran emulsion by a strong polyelectrolyte

2015

Abstract We examine whether a small amount of strong polyelectrolyte (dextran sulfate sodium salt/DSS/) can induce mixing in water-in-water bovine serum albumin/dextran (BSA/DEX) emulsion and how intermacromolecular interactions affect its the rheological properties. Addition of DSS to water-in-water emulsion at pH 5.4 leads to its mixing at the DSS/BSA weight ratio, ( q ( DSS / BSA ) ) ≥ 0.07 , a noticeable increase in viscosity and storage modulus (G′). Mixing is reversible: increasing the ionic strength leads to phase separation in the water/BSA/DEX/DSS system. The increase in viscoelasticity results from the interaction of DSS with both macromolecular compounds of the emulsion. We assum…

Modelling the influence of nanoparticles in the phase behaviour of an epoxy/polystyrene mixture

2007

Abstract The cloud point temperatures of four series of epoxy/polystyrene blends have been experimentally determined as a function of polymer mass and system composition. The phase diagrams show an UCST behaviour, increasing incompatibility as the molar mass increases. The Flory–Huggins theory with a concentration-dependent interaction parameter has been developed to study the compatibility of two polymers in presence of spherical nanoparticles. This theory has been first compared with the experimental cloud point curve in absence of nanoparticles, and secondly it has been used to predict the thermodynamic behaviour in presence of different volume fraction of nanoparticles. Nanoparticles co…

Complex miscibility behaviour for polymer blends in flow

1995

Abstract Experimental observations of the effect of shear flow on the miscibility of binary polymer blends are compared to calculations based on a generalized Gibbs energy of mixing Gγ˙. This mixing free energy characterizes the steady state established at shear rateγ˙, as the sum of G z , the equilibrium Gibbs energy and E s , the energy the system stores while flowing.

Bimodal drop size distributions during the early stages of shear induced coalescence

2005

Drop sizes and drop size distributions were determined by means of an optical shear cell in combination with an optical microscope for the systems polyisobutylene/poly(dimethylsiloxane) (I) and poly(dimethyl-co-methylphenylsiloxane)/poly(dimethylsiloxane) (II) at low concentrations of the suspended phases and at different constant shear rates ranging from 10 to 0.5 s-1 . After pre-shearing the two-phase mixtures (I: 50 s-1; II: 100 s-1) for the purpose of producing small drop radii, the shear rate was abruptly reduced to the preselected value and coalescence was studied as a function of time. In all cases one approaches dead end drop radii, i.e. breakup is absent. The drop size distribution…

Morphology of PEO/PDMS blends during shear: Coexistence of two droplet/matrix structures and additive effects

2005

Abstract The morphologies of blends of polyethyleneoxide (PEO 37) and poly(dimethylsiloxane)s (PDSM), with viscosity ratios, λ , of approximately one (PDMS 230) or 2.8 (PDMS 314, being the component of higher viscosity) and interfacial tensions on the order of 10 mN/m, were investigated at 70 °C as a function of shear rate (up to 10 s −1 ) and of time. For the system PEO 37/PDMS 230 we have also studied the influence of the compatibilizer dimethyl–ethyleneoxide–copolymer (PDMS- co -PEO), which is only reasonably soluble in PEO. To investigate the morphologies we have used an optical shear cell in combination with a light microscope. The most important observation consists in the formation o…

Structuring of polymer blends in simple shear flow

1990

A simplified model for the formation of steady state structure of discrete domains in polymer blends is established for simple shear flow. It is assumed that the domain size distribution, which results from an equilibrium between breakup processes and coalescence processes, may be divided in small and stable spherical domains and large and unstable ellipsoidal domains. Based on simplified rate balances and an expression for domain deformation rate the volume fraction of large domains and the large and small semiaxes of the ellipsoids are expressed as functions of volume fraction and shear rate/shear stress. The ability of the model to simulate actual behaviour is tested against quantitative…