TY - JOUR
T1 - Compatibilization Efficiency of Additives in Homopolymer Blends
T2 - A Dissipative Particle Dynamics Study
AU - Zhou, Tianhang
AU - Schneider, Jurek
AU - Wu, Zhenghao
AU - Müller-Plathe, Florian
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
©
PY - 2021/10/26
Y1 - 2021/10/26
N2 - We study the compatibilizing effect of copolymers of different architectures on the interface between two incompatible polymer phases by dissipative particle dynamics. Three base polymer systems are investigated, namely weakly incompatible (interspecies repulsion parameter of the dissipative particle dynamics interaction αAB: 25 < αAB < 30), intermediate-incompatible (30 ≤ αAB < 40), and strongly incompatible systems (αAB ≥ 40). We find that the compatibilization efficiency of all regular block copolymers in strongly incompatible systems can be predicted by a power-law function, which contains the Flory-Huggins interaction parameter, the areal concentration, and the mean block length of the compatibilizer. Regular multiblock copolymers have better compatibilization performance compared to the symmetric diblock copolymers at the same areal concentration. This is because smaller amounts of the multiblock copolymer are required to saturate a given interfacial area. For unsymmetric diblock copolymers in strongly incompatible systems, we find additionally that the length of the shortest block is a more important determinant for the compatibilization efficiency than the ratio of block lengths. Our work reveals the involved mechanisms of the compatibilization process, and it provides a promising route to predict the compatibilization efficiency of differently structured copolymer additives in the respective polymer blends.
AB - We study the compatibilizing effect of copolymers of different architectures on the interface between two incompatible polymer phases by dissipative particle dynamics. Three base polymer systems are investigated, namely weakly incompatible (interspecies repulsion parameter of the dissipative particle dynamics interaction αAB: 25 < αAB < 30), intermediate-incompatible (30 ≤ αAB < 40), and strongly incompatible systems (αAB ≥ 40). We find that the compatibilization efficiency of all regular block copolymers in strongly incompatible systems can be predicted by a power-law function, which contains the Flory-Huggins interaction parameter, the areal concentration, and the mean block length of the compatibilizer. Regular multiblock copolymers have better compatibilization performance compared to the symmetric diblock copolymers at the same areal concentration. This is because smaller amounts of the multiblock copolymer are required to saturate a given interfacial area. For unsymmetric diblock copolymers in strongly incompatible systems, we find additionally that the length of the shortest block is a more important determinant for the compatibilization efficiency than the ratio of block lengths. Our work reveals the involved mechanisms of the compatibilization process, and it provides a promising route to predict the compatibilization efficiency of differently structured copolymer additives in the respective polymer blends.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85117515795&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1021/acs.macromol.1c01076
DO - 10.1021/acs.macromol.1c01076
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85117515795
SN - 0024-9297
VL - 54
SP - 9551
EP - 9564
JO - Macromolecules
JF - Macromolecules
IS - 20
ER -