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Microstructures of emulsified polymer blends
Author(s) -
Adedeji Adeyinka,
Jamieson Alex M.,
Hudson Steven D.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
macromolecular chemistry and physics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.57
H-Index - 112
eISSN - 1521-3935
pISSN - 1022-1352
DOI - 10.1002/macp.1996.021970816
Subject(s) - copolymer , swelling , materials science , polymer , morphology (biology) , transmission electron microscopy , ternary operation , polymer chemistry , vesicle , phase (matter) , chemical engineering , microstructure , solvent , polymer blend , chemistry , nanotechnology , composite material , organic chemistry , membrane , biochemistry , genetics , engineering , programming language , computer science , biology
Morphologies of solvent‐cast blends of immiscible polymer pairs emulsified with block copolymers have been examined using transmission electron microscopy. The morphology of such blends is controlled by the delicate balance in the swelling of each block copolymer segment by the corresponding compatible homopolymers. By manipulating the relative swelling via changes in molecular weight and enthalpic interactions, a variety of morphologies including macrophase co‐existing with microphase, and microphase alone, with structures ranging from spheres to vesicles, vesicles co‐existing with worm‐like microdomains, and phase‐inverted networks (PIN), are observed. The morphologies of ternary blends of the type A/A‐ b ‐B/B and A/X‐ b ‐B/B can be related to the phase behavior observed in the binary A/A‐ b ‐B and A/X‐ b ‐B blends.