Dispersed rubber domains

Dispersed elastomeric micro-particles preferentially break (bright spots) with the development of crazes around the broken rubber domain as evident from Fig. 

Els and McGill [48] reported the action of maleic anhydride on polypropylene-polyisoprene blends. A graft copolymer was found in situ through the modifier, which later enhanced the overall performance of the blend. Scott and Macosko [49] studied the reactive and nonreactive compatibilization of nylon-ethylene-propylene rubber blends. The nonreactive polyamide-ethylene propylene blends showed poor interfacial adhesion between the phases. The reactive polyamide-ethylene propylene-maleic anhydride modified blends showed excellent adhesion and much smaller dispersed phase domain size. 

In order to obtain a finely sized dispersed phase in the PET matrix, the use of reactive compatibilization has been found to be important. Small dispersed rubber particles and a small interparticle distance are necessary to induce high toughness. For effective rubber toughening of PET, it is important that the rubber domains be less than 3 im in diameter (and preferably less than 1 xm) and that the interparticle distance be between 50-300 nm. 

A twin-screw extruder is generally preferred for producing rubber-toughened, glass-filled PET compounds for injection moulding applications. The PET and impact modifier are added at the throat while the glass reinforcement is added downstream. The size of the rubber domains will depend on the amount of energy and the capability of the equipment used for dispersion. 

Phase separation through NG mechanism cannot be observed for polymer-polymer blend systems that show interfacial tension lying in the range 0.5-11 mN/m. In addition, they predicted that a secondary phase separation could take place inside dispersed rubber particles in the case when the average composition of dispersed domains lies in the unstable region at the end of the phase separation [2], They were not able to observe a phase separation inside dispersed domains with TEM micrographs however, they concluded that there are two phases inside the dispersed domains by the fact that the glass transition temperature of the rubber-... 

Formulations have been developed where small rubber domains of a definite size and shape are formed in situ during cure of the epoxy matrix. The domains cease growing at gelation. After cure is complete, the adhesive consists of an epoxy matrix with embedded rubber particles. The formation of a fully dispersed phase depends on a delicate balance between the miscibility of the elastomer, or its adduct with the resin, with the resin-hardener mixture and appropriate precipitation during the crosslinking reaction. 

High temperature epoxy resins are brittle materials, and one method of improving their fracture properties is to incorporate reactive liquid rubbers in the formulations In situ phase separation occurs during cure the cured rubber-modified epoxy resins consist of finely dispersed rubber-rich domains ( 0.1-S pm) bonded to the epoxy matrix. TTT diagrams can be used to compare different rubber-modified systems. 

PP-MA (0-20) dispersed phase domain size vs. vol. fraction of compatibilizer / also blends containing EP rubber Rosch, 1995 Rosch and Miilhaupt, 1995 1993... 

The offset in the deformation curve is a consequence of the permanent set imposed by the yielding of the PP dominant matrix, where the dispersed EPDM domains were highly elongated. According to rough estimation of the extension of EPDM domains, the localized strain in the EPDM domains was much greater than the overall applied strain. This means that the strain was concentrated on the rubber domains. 

Styrene-butadiene block copolymer belongs to the A-B-A type thermoplastic elastomer. The principal structure of this type of polymer involves the thermoplastic rubber molecules terminated by the hard, glassy end blocks. The A and B copolymer block segments are incompatible and, consequently, separate spontaneously into two phases. Thus in the solid state, the styrene-butadiene (S-B-S) thermoplastic elastomer has two phases a continuous polybutadiene rubber phase and the dispersed glassy domains of polystyrene. The styrene plastic end blocks, called domains, act as cross-links locking the rubber phase in place. 

The degree of fineness of the rubber dispersion in the thermoplastic matrix. The rubber domains must be in 1—2 pm range, although they may be interconnected. 

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