Looking back to interfacial tension prediction in the compatibilized polymer blends: Discrepancies between theories and experiments

Abstract

Prediction of interfacial tension of compatibilized polymer blends is a challenging open problem, where experiments and theories hardly support each other. In this work, constitutive models proposed for quantifying the interfacial tension of compatibilized polymer blends were revisited and their limitations/capabilities were discussed. In view of available data in the literature, which could provide with possibility of comparison between interfacial tension values obtained in this work and those published before, high‐density polyethylene (HDPE)/polyamide‐6 and HDPE/polyethylene‐co‐vinyl alcohol pairs comprising varying amounts of HDPE‐g‐maleic anhydride compatibilizer precursor were prepared for obtaining model parameters. The inability of theories in monitoring the interfacial tension was accordingly uncovered. However, outcomes from both theoretical and experimental data provided some insights for elucidating the interplay between interfacial tension and rheological characteristics of the studied compatibilized blends. It was also attempted to uncover the relationships between particle size, particle size distribution, and rheological properties of blends compatibilized with different amounts of HDPE‐g‐maleic anhydride precursor. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2018, 135, 46144.

Predictive Mesoscale Simulation of Flow-Induced Blend Morphology, Interfacial Relaxation, and Linear Viscoelasticity of Polymer–Elastomer Blends

“…This relation, in fact, allows G′ interface to be directly assessed in real experiments, and the results were often associated with the interfacial tension acting on the dispersed phase domains. 21,74 The ideas of such a decoupling will be reassessed in the later spectral and tubediameter analyses. In Figure 8, the relaxation behavior of the blends can be seen to vary substantially, attributable to the shear-induced morphological changes.…”

“…Early phenomenological models including the Palierne model, the Doi–Ohta model, and the Lee–Park model as well as some experimental assessements − have suggested a relation (in the current notations) G′ blend = ϕ ACM G′ ACM + ϕ Nylon G′ Nylon + G′ interface (ϕ being the volume fraction) to decouple the regular contribution from the individual components with the additional one from the interfacial relaxation for a blend sample. This relation, in fact, allows G′ interface to be directly assessed in real experiments, and the results were often associated with the interfacial tension acting on the dispersed phase domains. , The ideas of such a decoupling will be reassessed in the later spectral and tube-diameter analyses. In Figure , the relaxation behavior of the blends can be seen to vary substantially, attributable to the shear-induced morphological changes.…”

Rheological characterization of compatibilized polymer blends

“…Hence, the shape of the complex viscosity versus frequency under dynamic rheological tests can give information on the interfacial adhesion between both components of a blend. For example, Hassanpour Asl et al [11] plotted h* ¼ f(u) for HDPE/polyamide 6 (PA 6) and HDPE/poly (ethylene-co-vinyl alcohol) (EVOH) blends with various amounts of each polymeric phase from 0/100 to 100/0. The authors noted that the viscosity plots corresponding to noncompatibilized HDPE/PA 6 blends were located between those of parent polymers, suggesting a poor interfacial adhesion.…”

“…Even if Palierne [18] is the most popular emulsion model based on linear viscoelastic behavior of polymer blends [11,19,20], there are other emulsion models such as Choi and Schowalter (for semidilute emulsions of Newtonian liquids) [21e23], Oldroyd's [24], Bousmina's [25], but also Lee and Park's model, Gramespacher and Meissner's model (simply named GeM's model) [26,27]. The GeM's model for example considers that the viscoelastic properties of the blend are constituted of the complex shear modulus of the components and that of the interface.…”

Maleic anhydride grafted onto high density polyethylene with an enhanced grafting degree via monomer microencapsulation

“…Prediction of interfacial tension of compatibilized polymer blends is a remarked-spiking problem, at which experiments and theories hardly corroborate each other. It was also striven to reveal the relationships between particle size and its distribution, as well as rheological properties of blends compatibilized with different amounts of HDPE-g-maleic anhydride precursor [4] (Hassanpour Asl et al, 2018).…”