Compatibilisation and examples of polymer blends

Compatibilisers effectively reduce the surface energy per unit area. 

There are several methods whereby the compatibiliser molecules can be introduced into the blend. They are principally 

Several other routes to compatibilisation include the following. 

Used by the presence of positive counter-ions such as Na or K. The ionic groups tend to form clusters and, if ionic groups are attached to a small number of the chains of both types of polymer in a blend, mixed clusters can be formed and act as physical cross-links. 

Some of the methods (a) i) are used for the production of commercial blends, but others have so far been used mainly on an experimental scale. An example of the latter is (a), because the production of small quantities of the specific graft or block copolymer is very expensive. 

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