Influence of Competition Between Binary Pairwise Interactions on the Phase Behavior in Ternary Blends

Abstract

There are three binary pairs in a ternary blend and competition exists among these pairwise interactions owing to the asymmetry of the interaction energies between these binary pairs, which will determine the overall phase behavior of the blend. The influence of molecular weight of the components on the asymmetry of the interactions was discussed based on a ternary copolymer blend poly(styrene-co-acrylonitile)/poly(styrene-comethylmethacrylate/poly(methyl methacrylate-co-acrylonitile) (SAN/SMMA/MAN). It has been demonstrated that the asymmetry of the interactions between different binary polymer pairs is driven not only by the difference of interaction parameters, i.e. the so-called Δξ effect, but also by the difference of chain length between different components in the mixture. If the two effects are coincident with each other, the asymmetry of the interactions will be intensified, promoting phase separation. On the other hand, the compatibility of the system may be improved remarkably as the two factors are in opposite directions. It implies that a miscible ternary blend may be available simply by exchanging the order of the molecular weight between the different components against the asymmetry direction caused by their corresponding interaction parameters, which is easier to do in many experimental conditions. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.