COMPATIBILIZATION CRITERIA AND PROCEDURES FOR BINARY BLENDS - A REVIEW

Polymer blends have been widely studied for the property improvement o f commercial polymers. Most polymer blends, however, present coarse an d unstable phase morphologies and poor adhesion at the interface, whic h is due to their immiscibility. Such problems have often been overcom e with the addition of a proper compatibilizer that is able to modify the interfacial condition. In this way, it is possible to control the morphology of the material and the interphase adhesion in an appropria te manner to achieve an effective stress transfer within the blend. Co mpatibilization criteria and procedures, either by adding a third comp onent (''compatibilizer'') or by inducing in situ chemical reactions b etween blend components, are reviewed. Some theoretical aspects of com patibilization processes have also been considered, giving examples of experimental consistency. The authors also report on the different co mpatibilizers used for several pairs of immiscible polymers with indic ations of their action to promote homogenization between phases.