Interfacial materials morphology

A key feature of encapsulation processes (Figs. 4a and 5) is that the reagents for the interfacial polymerisation reaction responsible for shell formation are present in two mutually immiscible Hquids. They must diffuse to the interface in order to react. Once reaction is initiated, the capsule shell that forms becomes a barrier to diffusion and ultimately begins to limit the rate of the interfacial polymerisation reaction. This, in turn, influences morphology and uniformity of thickness of the capsule shell. Kinetic analyses of the process have been pubHshed (12). A drawback to the technology for some apphcations is that aggressive or highly reactive molecules must be dissolved in the core material in order to produce microcapsules. Such molecules can react with sensitive core materials. 

Unlike incompatible heterogeneous blends of elastomer-elastomer, elastomer-plastic, and plastic-plastic, the reactively processed heterogeneous blends are expected to develop a variable extent of chemical interaction. For this reason the material properties, interfacial properties, and phase morphology of reactively processed blends would differ significantly from heterogeneous mixtures. 

Consequently, interpenetrating phase-separated D/A network composites, i.e. bulk heterojunction , would appear to be ideal photovoltaic materials [5]. By controlling the morphology of the phase separation into an interpenetrating network, one can achieve a high interfacial area within a bulk material. Since any point in the composite is within a few nanometers of a D/A interface, such a composite is a bulk D/A heterojunction material. If the network in a device is bicontinuous, as shown in Figure 15-26, the collection efficiency can be equally efficient. 

A brief review is given of the important qualitative features of thermoplastic elastomers. Particular emphasis is given to the molecular structure, bulk morphology and interfacial character of these materials. Both equilibrium and nonequilibrium structures are discussed... 

Note 2 Representative mechanisms for coarsening at the late stage of phase separation are (1) material flow in domains driven by interfacial tension (observed in a co-continuous morphology), (2) the growth of domain size by evaporation from smaller droplets and condensation into larger droplets, and (3) coalescence (fusion) of more than two droplets. The mechanisms are usually called (1) Siggia s mechanism, (2) Ostwald ripening (or the Lifshitz-Slyozov mechanism), and (3) coalescence. 

Composite-based PTC thermistors are potentially more economical. These devices are based on a combination of a conductor in a semicrystalline polymer—for example, carbon black in polyethylene. Other fillers include copper, iron, and silver. Important filler parameters in addition to conductivity include particle size, distribution, morphology, surface energy, oxidation state, and thermal expansion coefficient. Important polymer matrix characteristics in addition to conductivity include the glass transition temperature, Tg, and thermal expansion coefficient. Interfacial effects are extremely important in these materials and can influence the ultimate electrical properties of the composite. 

The material in this chapter is organized broadly in two segments. The topics on monolayers (e.g., basic definitions, experimental techniques for measurement of surface tension and sur-face-pressure-versus-area isotherms, phase equilibria and morphology of the monolayers, formulation of equation of state, interfacial viscosity, and some standard applications of mono-layers) are presented first in Sections 7.2-7.6. This is followed by the theories and experimental aspects of adsorption (adsorption from solution and Gibbs equation for the relation between... 

Given the existence of interphases and the multiplicity of components and reactions that interact to form it, a predictive model for a priori prediction of composition, size, structure or behavior is not possible at this time except for the simplest of systems. An in-situ probe that can interogate the interphase and provide spatial chemical and morphological information does not exist. Interfacial static mechanical properties, fracture properties and environmental resistance have been shown to be grealy affected by the interphase. Careful analytical interfacial investigations will be required to quantify the interphase structure. With the proper amount of information, progress may be made to advance the ability to design composite materials in which the interphase can be considered as a material variable so that the proper relationship between composite components will be modified to include the interphase as well as the fiber and matrix (Fig. 26). 

Analysis is simplified if 7 is isotropic—i.e., independent of geometrical attributes such as interfacial inclination n and, for internal interfaces in crystalline materials, the crystallographic misorientation across the interface. All interfacial energy reduction then results from a reduction of interfacial area through interface motion. The rate of interfacial area reduction per volume transferred across the interface is the local geometric mean curvature. Thus, local driving forces derived from variations in mean curvature allow tractable models for the capillarity-induced morphological evolution of isotropic interfaces. 

The intrinsic 3D interfacial curvature in compositionally asymmetric block copolymers provides extra degrees of freedom for the phase behavior in hexagonally structured microdomains. It is now well established that confinement of a cylinderforming block copolymer to a thickness other than the characteristic structure dimension in bulk, together with surface fields, can cause the microstructure to deviate from that of the corresponding bulk material. Surface structures in Fig. 1 are examples of simulated [57-59] and experimentally observed morphologies [40, 49, 60-62] that are formed in thin films of bulk cylinder-forming block copolymers. 

The production of substances with well-defined product properties under consideration of economical and ecological boundary conditions is the objective of many processes. For particulate materials, the product properties depend not only on the chemical composition but also on the dispersity of the material. The dispersity is characterized by the particle size distribution, the particles shape and morphology as well as their interfacial properties. This relation was called property function by Rumpf [1]. The control of the property function is known as product engineering or product design. 

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