Surface Modification Strategies for Multicomponent Polymer Systems. 2. Study of the Interfacial Tension and Morphology of Linear Low-Density Polyethylene/Poly(vinyl chloride) Blends

Abstract

The breaking thread method was used to measure the interfacial tension between linear low-density polyethylene and poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC). The thermal sensitivity of PVC renders this type of study extremely difficult. By choosing a low molecular weight of the PVC that showed Newtonian plateau behavior at low shear rates, using an appropriate temperature, and substantially reducing the thread thickness to accelerate the experiment, the breakup is constrained to occur before severe thermal degradation. In fact, the onset of thermal degradation can be observed as a deviation of the distortion amplitude from the predicated linearity of the Tomotika theory. A specific functionalized copolymer of poly(isoprene-4-vinylpyridine) (PIP-P4VP) is demonstrated to be an effective interfacial modifier for this system. The effectiveness of this modifier is shown by its ability to significantly reduce the particle size as well as the interfacial tension.

Measuring the interfacial tension of polymers in the presence of an interfacial modifier: Migrating the modifier to the interface

“…Figure 7 shows the comparison between the data for the sample prepared using method A or B. The behavior observed in this figure is quite similar to the one reported by other authors 9,20,22,23,25,34,35 who have observed the lowering of the measured interfacial tension when an effective compatibilizer is added to one component. The interfacial tension first drastically decreases with compatibilizer concentration and then tends to a limiting value.…”

Interfacial tension and acid‐base approaches to polymer interactions

“…The approach has been used extensively in our laboratories for both binary and ternary polymer blend systems. [25][26][27][28][29] Determinations of ␥ 12 by this method have shown an ability to predict the level of compatibility in multicomponent polymer systems. The breaking thread method is the source of ␥ 1,2 data in this article.…”

Interfacial tension reduction and coalescence suppression in compatibilized polymer blends

“…Lepers et al, 1997;Lepers and Favis, 1999 , where a triblock copolymer of SEBS grafted with maleic anhydride was successfully used to decrease the interfacial tension in a PPrpolyethylene terephthalate blend. Finally, using modifier Ž designs based on acid᎐base considerations, Liang et al 1997Liang et al , . 1999 demonstrated that the LLDPErpolyvinyl chloride in-Ž terfacial tension was decreased when a poly isoprene-4-.…”