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Interfacial tension reduction and coalescence suppression in compatibilized polymer blends
Author(s) -
Lepers JeanChristophe,
Favis Basil D.
Publication year - 1999
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.690450419
Subject(s) - copolymer , surface tension , coalescence (physics) , materials science , polystyrene , styrene , polymer , polymer blend , polymer chemistry , composite material , chemical engineering , thermodynamics , physics , astrobiology , engineering
This work examines the influence of well‐defined diblock copolymers on the interfacial tension and morphology of an immiscible polymer blend. The system studied is a blend of 80% polystyrene and 20% ethylene propylene copolymer compatibilized by diblock copolymers of poly(styrene‐hydrogenated butadiene). The diblocks differed in that one contained 53% styrene (symmetric diblock) and the other 30% styrene(asymmetric diblock). The interfacial tension was performed using the breaking‐thread technique, and the results were compared to both the theoretical predictions of Noolandi and Hong, and Leibler. The morphology was tracked using an emulsification curve, comparison of which with the interfacial tension results made it possible to estimate the relative role of interfacial tension and coalescence reduction in particle‐size reduction phenomena.