A transmission electron microscopic study was carried out on polymer a
lloys of polyoxymethylene (POM) with low density polyethylene (LDPE) a
nd styrene/acrylonitrile-grafted LDPE (LDPE-g-PSAN) from the point of
view that the compatibility of POM and LDPE will be improved by the gr
afted PSAN chain which has a solubility parameter close to that of POM
, though POM and LDPE are immiscible with each other. Low temperature
plasma etching followed by the carbon replica method were applied to e
xamine the size and distribution of particles in LDPE and LDPE-g-PSAN
in POM matrices by TEM. The size distribution curve of the dispersed p
articles had its maximum at a particle diameter of approximately 1.5 m
um for LDPE and approximately 0.2 mum for LDPE-g-PSAN. It was also fou
nd from the TEM morphologies that the interaction of the particles wit
h the POM matrix is stronger for LDPE-g-PSAN than for LDPE. This is ac
counted for by a difference in their solubility parameters.