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Miscibilization of reactive polymers during early‐stage spinodal decomposition
Author(s) -
Yashin Victor V.,
Spontak Richard J.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
aiche journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.958
H-Index - 167
eISSN - 1547-5905
pISSN - 0001-1541
DOI - 10.1002/aic.690440218
Subject(s) - spinodal decomposition , miscibility , spinodal , copolymer , materials science , polymer , polymer blend , phase (matter) , polymer chemistry , thermodynamics , chemical physics , phase diagram , decomposition , chemical engineering , chemistry , organic chemistry , composite material , physics , engineering
Reactive compatibilization constitutes an important method by which to control the size scale of phase separation in immiscible polymer blends. If a polymer pair exhibits a miscibility window at experimentally accessible temperatures, then reactive chain coupling can also be used to enhance the miscibility of the blend during spinodal decomposition in the biphasic region. We consider here the simultaneous phase separation and chemical reaction of A and B homopolymer blends in which end‐functionalized A chains react with a variety of functionalized B chains to form either AB diblock, ABA triblock, or n ‐armed B‐g‐A graft copolymers. Analytical expressions for the structure factors and Onsager kinetic coefficients are developed for each of these copolymer architectures in the kinetically controlled mean‐field limit of early‐stage spinodal decomposition. Multifunctional conversion‐architecture‐phase stability (CAPS) diagrams are introduced to facilitate comparison of the effect of copolymer architecture on reaction‐driven blend miscibilization.