Issue 20, 2017

The effect of chain mobility on the coarsening process of co-continuous, immiscible polymer blends under quiescent melt annealing

Abstract

Polypropylene (PP) and five kinds of monodisperse polystyrene (PS) with different terminal relaxation times were used to explore the relationship between the mobility of polymer molecular chains and the coarsening process of immiscible polymer blends with a co-continuous morphology under quiescent melt annealing at different temperatures. The terminal relaxation time of all neat PP and PS was determined by a rheological approach to characterize the mobility of molecular chains. A selective dissolution experiment showed that all PP/PS (50/50) blends maintained a co-continuous structure during the whole annealing process. Significant coarsening behaviors were observed for all PP/PS blends under a scanning electron microscope. A linear time dependence of the size of the PS phase was found in all PP/PS blends and the coarsening phenomenon was more obvious with the decrease of the terminal relaxation time of the PS phase because of the increase of the mobility of the polymer molecular chains. A direct relationship between the phase coarsening rate and the terminal relaxation time of the PS phase was found for the first time and it satisfied the equation Image ID:c7cp01278k-t1.gif. According to this equation, the formulae Image ID:c7cp01278k-t2.gif and kMw−1 can be derived, which can provide significant information for the control of the phase coarsening process of immiscible polymer blends with a co-continuous morphology.

Graphical abstract: The effect of chain mobility on the coarsening process of co-continuous, immiscible polymer blends under quiescent melt annealing

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
27 Feb 2017
Accepted
19 Apr 2017
First published
20 Apr 2017

Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2017,19, 12712-12719

The effect of chain mobility on the coarsening process of co-continuous, immiscible polymer blends under quiescent melt annealing

T. Gong, R. Bao, Z. Liu, B. Xie, M. Yang and W. Yang, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2017, 19, 12712 DOI: 10.1039/C7CP01278K

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