Morphological analysis of polymer systems with broad particle size distribution

This contribution is focused on precise determination of particle size distribution in polymer blends with complex morphology by means of our new program called MDISTR. Standard determination of the particle size distribution is usually achieved by measurement of particle sizes in (a single set of) electron micrographs. We show why this method fails for two frequent cases: (i) blends with very broad particle size distribution and (ii) blends that are composed of domains with different particle sizes. On real-life examples, we demonstrate that program MDISTR yields accurate particle size distributions in both the above-mentioned cases, while the standard image analysis gives average particle sizes differing by >100 % from the correct result. We describe MDISTR calculations which are based on a linear combination of standard particle size distributions from two (or more) sets of micrographs with different magnifications, different locations within the sample and precisely defined statistical weights. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.