S. Steinmann et al., Cocontinuous polymer blends: influence of viscosity and elasticity ratios of the constituent polymers on phase inversion, POLYMER, 42(15), 2001, pp. 6619-6629
The morphological properties of melt-mixed blends with cocontinuous phase m
orphology composed of poly-(methyl methacrylate) and polystyrene or poly(st
yrene-co-acrylonitrile) are studied. By means of digital image analysis of
two-dimensional TEM pictures the mean form factor ff(irr) was established a
s a classificator. For 11 blend systems phase inversion concentrations were
determined in this way.
We studied the influence of viscosity and/or elasticity ratios on the phase
inversion concentration. Most theories based on viscosity ratio disagree w
ith our experimental data. The analysis of corresponding phase inversion co
ncentrations based on elasticity ratio determined at a constant shear stres
s leads to a simple and good correlation. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. AU
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