COMPATIBILITY AT POLYMER-POLYMER MIXTURE INTERFACES IN THE PRESENCE OF SOLVENT

Abstract

We present some results obtained from theoretical study on a non-symmetrical A/BC polymeric system including solvent which consists of two phases, a polymeric phase A on one side and a mixture of polymers B (as a compatibilizer) and C on the other in the presence of a solvent. By employing the functional integral techniques we derive the mean-field equations and solve them numerically to deduce the physical properties of the interface involving the polymers and solvent concentration profiles in the limit that molecular weights of all the polymers involved tend to infinity. The calculations are performed for typical values of the Flory interaction parameters and for the volume fraction of polymer B in the asymptotic phase and of solvent. In the polymers/solvent blend under consideration the interfacial adsorption of polymer B, the solvent concentration, and degrees of the specific interaction between the polymers are found to play important roles in modification of the interfacial properties.