Role of block copolymer on the coarsening of morphology in polymer blend: Effect of micelles

Abstract

The reactive compatibilization of polystyrene/ethylene-a-octene copolymer (PS/POE) blend via Friedel-Crafts alkylation reaction was investigated by rheology and electron microscope. It was found that the graft copolymer formed from interfacial reaction reduced the domain size and decreased the coarsening rate of morphology. The reduction of the interfacial tension is very limited according to the mean field theory even assuming that all block copolymer stays on the interface. With the help of self-consistent field theory and rheological constitutive models, the distribution of graft copolymer was successfully estimated. It was found that large amount of copolymer had detached from the interfaces and formed micelles in the matrix. Both the block copolymer micelles in matrix and the block copolymers at the interface contribute to the suppression of coarsening in polymer blend, but play their roles at different stages of droplet coalescence. In droplet morphology, the micelles mainly hinder the approaching of droplets. V C 2014 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 61: [285][286][287][288][289][290][291][292][293][294][295] 2015

Effect of block copolymer containing ionic liquid moiety on interfacial polarization in PLA/PCL blends

“…BC copolymer as a traditional compatibilizer for immiscible polymer blends exhibits strong interactions between the two polymeric phases, thereby mainly segregating at the interface and decreasing the particle size of PCL. Considering the BC containing 12.8 wt % PEG and 87.2 wt % PCL repeating units, the PCL phase in PLA/PCL/BC blends contains more micelles of BC than PLA phase in the blends . With the increase of BC, the intensity of two peaks at low temperature decreases, the intensity of peak at high temperature increases and the number of peaks do not change.…”

Nonhomogeneous flow of micellar solutions: A kinetic—network theory approach

“…When a copolymer is on the interface of a solution, it has multiple influences on the interface dynamics. The compatibilization mechanism of polymer blends with copolymer both on the interface and in the bulk polymer forming micelles is a general rheological issue, and these systems have interesting properties that show self‐assembling amphiphilic characteristics in aqueous solutions. Particularly, the P103/water system has the capability to form spherical micelles at concentrations above the CMC.…”

Compatibilization of the poly(lactic acid)/poly(propylene carbonate) blends through in situ formation of poly(lactic acid)‐b‐poly(propylene carbonate) copolymer

“…According to preceding analyses, there were plenty of PLA-b-PPC copolymer with longer molecular chains in A40C60-0.5T sample, which was in good agreement with the ambiguous interface between PLA domains and PPC matrix because PLAb-PPC copolymer formed from transesterification could reduce the domain size and decrease the coarsening rate of morphology as a compatibilizer. 42 Scheme 3 displayed the different phase behavior in PLA/PPC blends with the transesterification degree increase under catalyst. The size and size distribution of PLA phase became smaller after transesterification.…”

“…The size and size distribution of PLA phase became smaller after transesterification. PLA-b-PPC copolymer could not only act as the tie molecules to connect PLA phase and PPC matrix increasing the adhesion between two phases, but also form block copolymer micelles in matrix decreasing the coarsening rate of morphology, 42 which was shown in Scheme 3(b).…”