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Coarsening of the phase dimensions in polymer blends under quiescent conditions is studied in blends of different morphologies; the dependence of the rate and extent of coarsening on the initial morphology is demonstrated. In blends with a droplet/matrix structure, coarsening via coalescence is found only above the percolation threshold for spherical particles (16 vol%). The rate of coalescence in the droplet/matrix structure is shown to obey the theory of Fortelny and Zivny for coalescence of droplets in quiescent media, and no constant level of the phase dimensions is reached. Below a volume fraction of 0.16 limited coarsening is found only for fibrillar and co‐continuous morphologies. This coarsening is in fact the result of a restructuring because retraction and breakup occur, leading to a droplet/matrix morphology in which the droplet diameter is approximately twice the diameter of the original fiber. Breakup and retraction are completed in a short time relative to coalescence. At higher volume fractions in co‐continuous structures (>30 vol%), these structures do not break up, and coarsening is found to take place by retraction only. No constant level of the phase dimensions is reached in the latter case.

The coefficient of the decrease of the interfacial tension of polypropylene/polystyrene with temperature is considerably higher than the value of other polymer pairs. This coefficient can be estimated by considering the change of the interaction parameters with temperature, but this approach fails for polypropylene/polystyrene, and other mechanisms are expected to play a role. In this paper it is shown that polypropylene starts to degrade at higher temperatures, leading to smaller polymer chains, which decrease the interfacial tension. Besides the change of the interaction parameters with temperature, these smaller molecules also contribute to the temperature coefficient, leading to an apparently high coefficient. The smaller molecules, however, lead to a permanent lower interfacial tension, e.g. the interfacial tension of polypropylene/polystyrene at 200°C is 4.9, 3.9, and 3.0 mN/m, if the polypropylene is first processed at 200,250. and 300°C. respectively.