Suppression of phase coarsening in immiscible, co-continuous polymer blends under high temperature quiescent annealing

Soft Matter. 2014 May 28;10(20):3587-96. doi: 10.1039/c3sm53211a. Epub 2014 Mar 24.

Abstract

The properties of polymer blends greatly depend on the morphologies formed during processing, and the thermodynamic non-equilibrium nature of most polymer blends makes it important to maintain the morphology stability to ensure the performance stability of structural materials. Herein, the phase coarsening of co-continuous, immiscible polyamide 6 (PA6)-acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) blends in the melt state was studied and the effect of introduction of nano-silica particles on the stability of the phase morphology was examined. It was found that the PA6-ABS (50/50 w) blend maintained the co-continuous morphology but coarsened severely upon annealing at 230 °C. The coarsening process could be divided into two stages: a fast coarsening process at the initial stage of annealing and a second coarsening process with a relatively slow coarsening rate later. The reduction of the coarsening rate can be explained from the reduction of the global curvature of the interface. With the introduction of nano-silica, the composites also showed two stages of coarsening. However, the coarsening rate was significantly decreased and the phase morphology was stabilized. Rheological measurements indicated that a particle network structure was formed when the concentration of nano-silica particles was beyond 2 wt%. The particle network inhibited the movement of molecular chains and thus suppressed the coarsening process.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Acrylic Resins / chemistry*
  • Butadienes / chemistry*
  • Caprolactam / analogs & derivatives*
  • Caprolactam / chemistry
  • Heating
  • Nanoparticles / chemistry
  • Nanoparticles / ultrastructure
  • Phase Transition
  • Polymers / chemistry*
  • Polystyrenes / chemistry*
  • Silicon Dioxide / chemistry

Substances

  • Acrylic Resins
  • Butadienes
  • Polymers
  • Polystyrenes
  • nylon 6
  • Caprolactam
  • Silicon Dioxide
  • ABS resin