In this work, the morphologies of PMMA/PP/PS blends of different concentrations were studied and compared to the predictions of spreading coefficient, minimum free energy, and dynamic interfacial energy phenomenological models. Different morphologies than the ones predicted by the phenomenological models were observed in the case of PMMA matrix: a mixture of core-shell morphology (core of PP and shell of PS), dispersed PS, and subinclusions within the core when the concentration of PP was increased were obtained. The quantitative analysis of the morphologies indicated that when PMMA was the matrix, PS acted as an emulsifier. The study of the evolution of morphology in the case of 10/80/10 PMMA/PP/PS blends showed that when PMMA is added to the binary blend of PP/PS, threads of PMMA are formed and break up into droplets with a size comparable to the ones of PS forming a double dispersion type morphology, and then PMMA penetrates the drops of PS, forming a core-shell morphology with only one drop of PMMA inside a matrix. Subsequently, the core droplet of PMMA deforms and breaks up into smaller droplets.

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ABSTRACT:In the present work, contact angles formed by drops of diethylene glycol, ethylene glycol, formamide, diiodomethane, water, and mercury on a film of polypropylene (PP), on plates of polystyrene (PS), and on plates of a liquid crystalline polymer (LCP) were measured at 20°C. Then the surface energies of those polymers were evaluated using the following three different methods: harmonic mean equation and geometric mean equation, using the values of the different pairs of contact angles obtained here; and Neumann's equation, using the different values of contact angles obtained here. It was shown that the values of surface energy generated by these three methods depend on the choice of liquids used for contact angle measurements, except when a pair of any liquid with diiodomethane was used. Most likely, this is due to the difference of polarity between diiodomethane and the other liquids at the temperature of 20°C. The critical surface tensions of those polymers were also evaluated at room temperature according to the methods of Zisman and Saito using the values of contact angles obtained here. The values of critical surface tension for each polymer obtained according to the method of Zisman and Saito corroborated the results of surface energy found using the geometric mean and Neumann's equations. The values of surface energy of polystyrene obtained at 20°C were also used to evaluate the surface tension of the same material at higher temperatures and compared to the experimental values obtained with a pendant drop apparatus. The calculated values of surface tension corroborated the experimental ones only if the pair of liquids used to evaluate the surface energy of the polymers at room temperature contained diiodomethane.

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In this paper the pendant drop method to measure interfacial tension between molten polymers is reviewed. A typical pendant drop apparatus is presented. The algorithms used to infer interfacial tension from the geometrical profile of the pendant drop are described in details, in particular a new routine to evaluate correctly the value of the radius at the apex of the drop, necessary to the calculation of interfacial tension is presented. The method was evaluated for the possibility of measuring the interfacial tension between polyethylene and polystyrene. It is shown that the method is unsuitable for the measurement of interfacial tension between high density polyethylene and polystyrene due possibly to a too small difference of density between the two polymers. Values of interfacial tension between low density polyethylene (LDPE) and polystyrene (PS) as a function of the molecular weight of PS are presented. It was shown that the interfacial tension between LDPE and PS increased as a function of molecular weight of PS up to values of molecular weight of roughly 40,000 g/mol, value for which entanglements occur

An apparatus is described to measure interfacial tension for molten polymer pairs. The apparatus is based on the pendant drop method. A CCD color video camera captures the image of a pendant drop profile, which is analyzed on‐line using a microcomputer. These almost continuous measurements permit the detection of possible changes in the behavior of the melt that might affect the interfacial tension through thermal degradation. A special syringe to inject the pendant drop has been designed in order to avoid problems such as the capillary effect of the tube of the syringe and the necking and detachment of the pendant drop. The accuracy of the apparatus was verified using water/n‐hexane and water/n‐octane. Experimental results for polypropylene/polystyrene (PP/PS) are presented. The interfacial tension between the polymer pair decreases as temperature increases and as molecular weight decreases. Interfacial tension is estimated from the drop shape when the drop is at mechanical equilibrium. For polymer systems, mechanical equilibrium normally takes from 1 to 10 h to occur. However, transient values of interfacial tension (apparent interfacial tension values obtained before mechanical equilibrium is reached) may be used to estimate the interfacial tension at equilibrium by extrapolation, thus reducing the required experimental time.

In this study, porous micron‐sized fibers of polylactic acid (PLA) are fabricated via electrospinning of PLA‐dichloromethane (DCM)‐hexane systems with no post treatment involved. Several compositions from the liquid‐liquid phase separated region of the phase diagram of this ternary system are selected and their electrospinnability are investigated throughout their phase separation process before gelation. We show that under constant processing and ambient parameters, there is a phase separation shelf time for each composition wherein the viscoelasticity of the systems is optimum to produce long, uniform porous fibers. For the first time, we investigate the effect of aging time during phase separation on the morphology of the electrospun fibers using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Based on our results, certain phase separated systems provide a range of viscosity allowing for the production of porous spherical micro beads or fibers via electrospraying and electrospinning, respectively. It is also shown that obtaining long, uniform fibers from electrospinning of highly phase separated systems, e.g., a gel, is not feasible due to the high degree of crystallinity of their polymer‐rich domains and the solid‐like yielding behavior. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2017, 134, 44862.

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