Effect of polymer-filler surface interactions on the phase separation in polymer blends

For the blends of chlorinated polyethylene and copolymer of ethylene with vinyl acetate, the effect of the introducing filler (fumed silica) on the phase behavior of the blends was investigated. It was found that introducing filler in polymer blends depending on its amount lead either to the increase or to the decrease in the temperature of phase separation. At the filler concentration where both components transit into the state of a border layers, the phase separation temperature increases. This effect was explained by the change of the total thermodynamic interaction parameter in the ternary system polymer-polymer-filler. At lower concentration of a filler, the possible effect is the redistribution of the blend components according to their molecular masses between filler surface (in the border layer) and in the bulk that may diminish the phase separation temperature. Effect of the filler on the phase behavior was explained by the simultaneous action of two mechanisms: by changing the thermodynamics of interaction near the surface due to selective adsorption of one of the components and by the redistribution of components according to their molecular masses between the boundary region (near the surface) and in the matrix. The measurements of the kinetics of phase separation and calculation of the parameters of the activation energy are in agreement with proposed mechanisms. (C) 2001 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.