Phase Morphology in Ternary Blends

We decided to rank apart the phase morphology in ternary immiscible blends because it can be droplet-in-matrix, co-continuous, or a mixture of both and, in many situations, an encapsulated droplet-in-matrix structure. 

The phase morphology of immiscible ternary polymer blends was the object of a review of Shokohooi et al. [12], According to the generalized Harkins equation, in a ternary A/B/C blend, the spreading coefficient, Aqb, is defined as the parameter showing the tendency of component C to encapsulate component B in a matrix of component A and is related to the interfacial tension of the components in the following manner  

In this ternary system, the tendency of B to encapsulate C can be considered by writing the spreading coefficient = Yca Yba Ybc- If cb positive and Age is negative, the encapsulation of B with a C layer prevails (Fig. 22.1a). On the other hand, if Xgc is positive and Acs is negative, the encapsulation of C with a B layer takes place (Fig. 22.1b). If both are negative, they will be separately dispersed as droplets in matrix A (Fig. 22.1c). 

Either SC or RIE models were successful in anticipating transition from encapsulated to individually dispersed structures. It was also postulated that the ratio of average viscosity or elasticity of the core-shell particle to that of the matrix simply correlates with the size of the composite droplets. For ratios greater than unity, a direct relationship between mentioned parameters exists, whereas an inverse trend was observed when elasticity or viscosity ratio takes values less than unity. 

DEVELOPMENT AND STABILITY OE PHASE MORPHOLOGY IN COMPLEX MULTICOMPONENT POLYMERIC SYSTEMS 

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