ABSTRACT
Polyolens offer a wide range of properties, from plastic to elastomeric, depending on their structure. Blending technology is used to achieve an even wider range of properties by combining two polyolens, or a polyolen with another thermoplastic, resulting in improvements in mechanical strength, toughness, processability, thermal stability, aging resistance, etc. The properties of a blend depend to a large extent on the degree of phase separation of its components, namely, if they are miscible, partially miscible, or immiscible. Generally speaking, miscible blends, being single-phase systems, have intermediate properties with respect to the two components. Polyolen-based blends are for the most part thermodynamically immiscible, consisting of two or more phases and displaying a combination of the properties of the components, often with synergistic effects [1]. The microstructure of immiscible blends depends on many factors: temperature, composition, interfacial tension, rheology of the individual components, and compounding method. Microstructure, in turn, controls the physical properties [2,3]. Extensive efforts have been
CONTENTS
2.1 Introduction ..........................................................................................................................25 2.2 Filler Localization ................................................................................................................ 27
2.2.1 Thermodynamic Effects ..........................................................................................28 2.2.2 Kinetic Effects ...........................................................................................................33
