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Cocontinuous morphology in vinylidene fluoride based polymers/poly(ethylene oxide) blends
Author(s) -
Daux V.,
Prochazka F.,
Carrot C.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
journal of applied polymer science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.575
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-4628
pISSN - 0021-8995
DOI - 10.1002/app.38167
Subject(s) - materials science , copolymer , viscoelasticity , ethylene oxide , rheology , polymer , polymer blend , rheometer , composite material , morphology (biology) , oxide , relaxation (psychology) , scanning electron microscope , chemical engineering , polymer chemistry , psychology , social psychology , biology , metallurgy , engineering , genetics
Abstract In this work, blends of three different vinylidene fluoride (VdF) based homopolymers and copolymers with poly(ethylene oxide) were investigated. We focused on the continuity domain and, more particularly, on the cocontinuous morphology of these systems. The melt‐mixed blends were characterized by different techniques. The morphology was identified through a selective extraction technique and was confirmed by scanning electron microscopy. Dynamic oscillatory shear measurements were performed with a constant stress rheometer in the linear viscoelastic domain in the whole composition range. Because of the high viscosities and long relaxation times of the VdF‐based polymers, the interfacial effects were hidden by the intrinsic behavior of the neat components. Nevertheless, the combination of the different techniques highlighted the similarity of the systems toward morphological development, whatever the VdF monomers. The experiments and theoretical analysis indicated that the rheological behavior dominated the interfacial effects in such systems with a large viscosity ratio and that it also dictated the boundaries of the continuity domain. The originality of this study came from the use of three different VdF‐based polymers. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 2013