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Minor‐phase particles evolution in a polyethylene/ethylene–propylene copolymer (80/20) blend across mixing: Breakup and coalescence
Author(s) -
Chen XuHuang,
Yu Peng,
Kostromin Sergei,
Bronnikov Sergei
Publication year - 2013
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.39373
Subject(s) - coalescence (physics) , breakup , materials science , polyethylene , copolymer , metallocene , ethylene propylene rubber , ethylene , polypropylene , polymer chemistry , mixing (physics) , phase (matter) , thermodynamics , chemical engineering , composite material , chemistry , polymerization , physics , organic chemistry , mechanics , polymer , catalysis , quantum mechanics , astrobiology , engineering
On the basis of an online sampling microscopy method, the morphological evolution of a metallocene polyethylene/metallocene ethylene–propylene copolymer system (80/20 vol %) across various mixing regimes was investigated and treated statistically. The size distributions of the minor‐phase metallocene ethylene–propylene (mEP) droplets were described with principles of irreversible thermodynamics. Such an approach allowed us to find two superimposed statistical ensembles involving primary (broken) and secondary (coalesced) mEP particles. The mean size and relative number of both broken and coalesced mEP particles were calculated. The evolution of these characteristics across melt mixing, static coalescence, and flow‐driven coalescence was analyzed. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 130: 3421–3431, 2013