INVESTIGATING MISCIBLE POLYMER BLEND DYNAMICS WITH OPTICAL AND MECHANICAL RHEOMETRY

A method to identify component contributions to the theology of miscib le polymer blends is proposed based on complementary infrared polarime try and mechanical rheometry. With such measurements the blend dynamic modulus, G(omega), is shown to be separable into the individual cont ributions experienced by each of the blend components. The method reli es on converting the observables of dynamic infrared 1,3 dichroism and birefringence experiments to those of dynamic shear stress experiment s through the use of constitutive relations and the application of the stress-optic rule. Measures are introduced to account for local orien tational correlations since such coupling effects are known to influen ce optical anisotropies but not the state of stress.