Abstract
Morphology is one of the important parameters that affects polymer properties and performance. A standard procedure used when characterizing the morphology of many polymer blends by TEM is to stain one of the components with a heavy element rendering it opaque to the electron beam. Among the more common stains used are phosphotungstic acid (PTA) for nylon and OSO4 for unsaturated rubbers. Although these stains work well for simple two component systems, innovative techniques are often essential when the material contains three or more phases, as necessitated by ever expanding industrial demands. This paper describes two such techniques used in characterizing three multi-phase polymer systems.One multi-component system consisted of a polybutadiene-polymer blend, nylon, and a saturated rubber. OSO4 reacts with the double bonds of the butadiene rendering it opaque while slightly darkening its matrix. PTA reacts with the amine groups of nylon rendering it opaque.
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