Study on Phase Morphology of PP/PS Blends by Phase Contrast Micrographs

Abstract

The relation of the phase morphology of polypropylene/polystyrene (PP/PS) blends and their composition and mixing temperature was investigated using digital image analysis. The characteristic length L and the mean square radius of gyration were defined to discuss the phase morphology of the immiscible system. A fractal dimension, D f , was introduced to describe the distribution of sizes of domains of the dispersed phase. To study the distribution uniformity of these domains, another fractal dimension, D c , was defined. The results showed that these fractal dimensions were effective parameters to describe the evolution of the phase morphology.