Phase Separation Induced by Shear Quenching in Polymer Blends With a Diblock Copolymer

Published

April 1, 2001

Author(s)

H Jeon, Sangcheol Kim, Charles C. Han

Abstract

The effects of adding A-B diblock copolymer to a polymer blend (A/B) on phase- separation kinetics and morphology have been investigated in a fixed shallow quench condition ({Δ}T = 1.5 C) by in-situ time-resolved light scattering and phase contrast optical microscopy. A shear-quench technique was used in this study instead of a conventional temperature-quench method. Mixtures of nearly monodisperse low relative molecular masses polybutadiene (M_w = 2.8 x kg/mol), polystyrene (M_w = 2.6 kg/mol), and a near-symmetric butadiene-styrene diblock copolymer (M_w = 6.3 kg/mol) as an interfacial modifier were studied. We observed that the addition of the diblock copolymer could either retard or accelerate the phase-separation kinetics depending on the concentration of the diblock copolymer in homopolymer blends. In contrast to the conventional temperature quench, we observed complex phase separation kinetics in the intermediate and late stages of phase separation by the shear-quench technique.

Citation

Journal of Polymer Science Part B-Polymer Physics

Volume

39

Issue

No. 8

Pub Type

Journals

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Keywords

block copolymer, phase separation, polybutadiene, polystyrene, shear quenched

Citation

Jeon, H. , Kim, S. and Han, C. (2001), Phase Separation Induced by Shear Quenching in Polymer Blends With a Diblock Copolymer, Journal of Polymer Science Part B-Polymer Physics, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=851690 (Accessed October 10, 2025)