Electrically induced phase inversion in polyurethane/dimethylsiloxane blend

Recently, we have reported on an electrically induced "phase inversion" phe nomenon which was discovered in a urethane-modified polypropylene glycol (U PPG)/dimethylsiloxane (DMS) blend. The phenomenon occurs when the fraction of UPPG is high but UPPG forms droplets dispersed in DMS matrix. When the e lectric field is applied, UPPG becomes the continuous matrix and DMS breaks into droplets. The domain morphology does not return to the original struc ture (DMS=matrix, UPPG=droplets) even after turning off the field. To clari fy the relation between the phase inversion and the resulting ER effect, we observed the domain structure in UPPG/DMS blends under both the electric a nd sheer fields.