Thermoset elastomers distributions

Multiphase or multicomponent polymers can clearly be more complex structurally than single phase materials, for there is the distribution of the various phases to describe as well as their internal structure. Most polymer blends, block and graft copolymers and interpenetrating networks are multiphase systems. A major commercial set of multiphase polymer systems are the toughened, high impact or impact modified polymers. These are combinations of polymers with dispersed elastomer (rubber) particles in a continuous matrix. Most commonly the matrix is a glassy amorphous thermoplastic, but it can also be crystalline or a thermoset. The impact modified materials may be blends, block or graft copolymers or even all of these at once. 

In the years following the rise of polymer characterization (the late 0 s and early 50 s), many scientists began to study apparent relations between the properties of linear polymer molecules and the networks obtainable therefrom. This search was also stimulated by the wide range of applications of polymer networks in commercial elastomers thermosets and coatings. Frequently these data were confidently matched with curves obtained from statistically describable models of networks of ghost chains uniformly distributed in space. 

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