Predicted interfacial area from morphologies

Figure 8. Predicted interfacial area from 3D morphologies (rings, lenses, bulk connected phases) is smaller than measurements reported in the literature by as much as an order of magnitude. The area of Wfilm in drained pores increases during drainage, and when this area is added to the interfacial area, the predictions show the same trend as the data. The measurements have been normalized by the average radius of the grains or beads in each experiment.

Although no exact correlation between experiment and model was produced by this exercise, it has been shown that the two polymers studied exhibit phase-separated morphologies that are similar in nature to the extent that they are subject to nearly identical polarizations. The large polarizations measured can only be explained by high interfacial areas, congruent with semicrystalline lamellar morphologies. Finally, the divergence of the observed polarizations from those predicted by the two-phase model is quite likely due to the existence of finite-thickness, transition zones between dissimilar domains. 

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