Polymer Blends: Introduction

Polyethylene terephthalate/low density polyethylene/titanium dioxide blend nanocomposites: Morphology, crystallinity, rheology, and transport properties

“…At low concentrations of one of the components, droplet-matrix morphologies are usually obtained. 4,5 The presence of nanofillers can alter the morphology of the blends, as it has been reported in the literature. [6][7][8][9][10] Solid particles can refine or coarsen the morphology, stabilize the morphology in the presence of flow or promote co-continuous morphologies, and so on.…”

“…It has been reported in literature that upon increasing the viscosity of the matrix, the coalescence is reduced because the time needed for film drainage between two droplets increases. 5,32,33 Taking into account this theory, it can be stated that during extrusion droplet break up governs the final morphology and for this reason there is not a correlation between the size of the droplets and the blend composition. It seems that as PET has a higher viscosity than LDPE, the film drainage between LDPE droplets is hindered, avoiding a significant coalescence process.…”

“…[7][8][9][10] As immiscible polymer blends usually have high interfacial tension that leads to poor adhesion between phases, and thus inadequate final properties, compatibilizers are used to decrease the interfacial tension and improve the properties. 5,11 Interestingly enough, in the last years, the role of fillers as compatibilizers has gained interest. The major advantage of this route is the versatility in comparison with conventional compatibilizer copolymers.…”

“…9,10 For immiscible blends, the rheological properties depend on the type of flow field, interaction between phases and morphology. 4,5,12 The presence of fillers can alter the rheological behavior of the blend, transforming an emulsion like behavior in a suspension or solid like behavior. The rheological properties determined by oscillatory flow measurements, have been widely investigated in the linear viscoelastic regime, focusing on the interfacial tension.…”

Investigation of compatibilization effects of SEBS-g-MA on polystyrene/polyethylene blend with a novel separation method in melted state

“…The interest of industrial and academic area is growing for polymer blends, because the good physical and mechanical properties of plastics can be tailored this way [1,2]. In most cases, polymers are incompatible with each other because of their high molecular weight [3,4] and for thermodynamic reasons [5,6].…”