Viscoelastic Relaxation of Miscible Blends

Abstract

Synonyms Homogeneous blends; Slow dynamics DefinitionViscoelastic relaxation of miscible polymer blends is much more complicated than that in homopolymer bulk because the space-filling state and dynamic environment for segments of respective components are different from those in the bulk. The global relaxation mechanism is strongly affected by changes in this environment with temperature. This entry summarizes the material functions to be examined for the blends and the global relaxation mechanisms therein. A brief explanation is given for the experimentally observed relaxation behavior of some representative blends.