Online Morphology Development of Immiscible Polymer Blends in the Presence of an Interfacial Modifier

This study focuses on the online morphology development of a typical immiscible polymer blend subjected to a shear flow field in the presence of the high percentage of an interfacial modifier. The blend components were fluid at room temperature. To follow the details of the morphology development more closely, a drop-in-matrix structure was selected. The matrix and the dispersed phases were polyisobutylene (PIB) and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) of various viscosities, respectively. The selected three viscosities of PDMS generated a wide range of viscosity ratios, i.e., 0.04 to 2.3, at room temperature. Both polymers exhibited Newtonian behavior over the investigated shear rate range and no normal forces were observed. The interfacial modifier was a diblock copolymer including PIB and PDMS blocks with close molecular weight. The shear flow field was made using a coaxial cylinders system. The velocity of each cylinder was controlled separately. The results obtained for the blend system in the absence of an interfacial modifier were similar to the observations of previous researchers. A symmetrical breakup was observed for clean drops with the odd number of the resulting breakup droplets. The addition of the interfacial modifier drastically influenced the blend morphology development. The deformation of the compatibilized drops was considerably different from the deformation observed for the corresponding clean counterparts. The breakup was no longer symmetrical and predictable. The viscosity ratio played a determining role in morphology development of the compatibilized drop. The deformation and breakup of the drops at low and high viscosity ratios were not similar. While the low viscosity ratio of the compatibilized drops demonstrated tip-streaming at low shear rates and the high viscosity ratio of the drops showed end-pinching.