• Korea-Australia Rheology Journal
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.135-140
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• 2004

Morphological and rheological properties of the poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and polystyrene (PS) blends were studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and advanced rheometric expansion system (ARES). From the SEM results, the PMMA-PS blends showed dispersed morphology and the particle size of the dispersed phase was quite small (0.1~0.6 $\mu\textrm{m}$ compared with other immiscible polymer blends. Values of the interfacial tension of the PMMA-PS blend were obtained from the Choi-Schowalter and the Palierne emulsion models using the storage modulus of the PMMA and PS, and found to be 1.0 and 2.0 mN/m, respectively. The interfacial tension between the PMMA and PS was also calculated from the Flory-Huggins polymer-polymer interaction parameter ($\chi$) and found to be from 0.98 to 1.86 mN/m depending on the molecular weight and composition. Comparing the values of the interfacial tension from the Flory-Huggins polymer-polymer interaction parameter and the values measured by oscillatory rheometer, it is suggested that the interfacial tension of the PMMA-PS blend obtained from the polymer-polymer interaction parameter are in good agreement with the values obtained by rheological measurements.

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.16 no.7
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• pp.631-636
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• 2008

The intrinsic viscosities were determined for poly(DL-lactic acid) (PDLLA) solutions in 1,2-dialkyl phthalate at temperatures ranging from 30 to $60^{\circ}C$. A series of dialkyl phthalate, in which the alkyl group was changed from methyl to propyl, was used as the solvent to control the solvent quality systematically. The intrinsic viscosity of the PDLLA solution was higher in the better quality solvent, with a higher molecular weight of PDLLA, and at lower temperatures. The unperturbed dimensions of the PDLLA molecule and polymer-solvent interaction parameter of PDLLA in dialkyl phthalate were deduced using extrapolation methods based on the temperature-dependent intrinsic viscosities. Slight shrinkage in the unperturbed chain dimension was observed, which resulted from a change in polymer conformation with temperature. It was also observed that the polymer-solvent interaction became more favorable with the dialkyl phthalate containing a shorter alkyl chain.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.4 no.5
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• pp.223-227
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• 1983

A molecular dynamic computer experiment was performed on a system of 108 particles composed of a single polymer chain and solvent molecules. The state considered was in the immediate neighborhood of the triple point of the system. The polymer itself is an analog of a freely jointed chain. The Lennard-Jones potential was used to represent the interactions between all particles except for that between the chain elements forming a bond in the polymer chain, for which the interaction was expressed by a harmonic potential. The self-diffusion coefficient and velocity autocorrelation function (VACF) of a polymer were calculated at various chain lengths $N_p$, and various interaction strengths between solvent molecules and a polymer chain element. For self-diffusion coefficients D, the Einstein relation holds good; as chain length $N_p$ increases the D value decreases, and D also decreases as ${\varepsilon}_{cs}$ (the interaction parameter between the chain element and solvent molecules) increases. The relaxation time of velocity autocorrelation decreases as ${\varepsilon}_{cs}$ increases, and it is constant for various chain lengths. The diffusion coefficients in various conditions reveal that our systems are in a free draining limit as is well known from the behavior of low molecular weight polymers, this also agrees with the Kirkwood-Riesman theory.

• Polymer Science and Technology
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.574-578
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• 2013

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.8 no.5
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• pp.398-403
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• 1987

A general theory of polymer adsorption at a semi-permeable oil-water interface of the biphasic solution is presented. The configurational factor of the solution in the presence of the semi-open boundary at the interface is evaluated by the quasicrystalline lattice model. The present theory gives the feature of the bulk concentration equilibria between oil-water subsystems and the surface excesses of ${\Gamma}^{\alpha}$ and ${\Gamma}^\{beta}$ of the polymer segments as a function of the degree of polymerization $\gamma$, the Flory-Huggins parameter in $\beta$-phase $x_{\rho}^{{\beta}_{\rho}}$, the differential adsorption energy parameter in $\beta$-phase $x_{\sigma}^{{\beta}_{\rho}}$, the differential interaction energy parameter ${\Delta}x_{\rho}$ and the bulk concentration of the polymer in ${\beta}-phase ${\varphi}_2^{{\beta(*)}_2}$. From our numerical results, the characteristics of ${\Gamma}^{\alpha}$ are shown to be significantly different from those of ${\Gamma}^{\beta}$ in the case of high polymers, and this would be the most apparent feature of the adsorption behavior of the polymer at a semi-permeable oil-water interface, which is sensitively dependent on ${\Delta}x_{\rho}$ and r.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.601-615
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• 1993

A series of polycarbonate(PC)/polyamide 6(PA6) blends were prepared by three different blending methods to investigate their compatibility. From the DSC results, all of these blends have two Tg's in their own Tg regions, and there was no significant depression of the melting point and the crystallization temperature of PA6. With respect to the microstructure of the blends by SEM, the phase separation occurred at very low blend compositions, PC/PA6=95/5 and 5/95, already. In addition, a method is proposed to determine the Flory-Huggins polymer-polymer interaction parameter(${\chi}_{12}$) in polymer blend systems by using the experimentally determined Tg's. The values of ${\chi}_{12}$ obtained were 0.0381, 0.0411, 0.0418, for solution casting, solution precipitation, and extrusion blending methods, respectively. These values were higher than the critical value of ${\chi}_{12}$,($({\chi}_{12})_c$, 0.0271). Therefore it was concluded that the PC/PA6 blend system have little compatibility.

• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.211-216
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• 2002

The polymer-polymer interaction parameter, x 23t, of the styrene-butadiene polymer (SBR) and ethylene-propylene-diene terpolymer (EPDM) was investigated by observing the phase behavior of the ternary system of SBR/EPDM/solvent. The solvent used in this study was benzene acting as a good solvent for SBR but as a poor solvent for EPDM. Ternary solutions with various concentrations and mixing ratios of the two component polymers were separated into two phases by temperature change The cloud point curves (CPC) showed that the differerence of solvent affinities toward each polymer and the repulsive interaction between two polymers considerably affect the shape of CPC near 15℃. In the temperature range of 5℃ ~ 25℃, incompatible behaviours arised from both the difference of mixing ratios and concentration were clearly observed. Also the phase separation temperature greatly influenced on the composition of each separated phase. The calculated x 23t values from Flory-Huggins theory were in the range of 0.6301 ~ 1.0775, which suggest that the SBR/EPDM systems are incompatible.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.16 no.9
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• pp.873-885
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• 1995

The local structural and thermodynamical properties of blends A-B/H of a diblock copolymer A-B and a homopolymer H are studied using the polymer reference interaction site model (RISM) integral equation theory with the mean-spherical approximation closure. The random phase approximation (RPA)-like static scattering function is derived and the interaction parameter is obtained to investigate the phase transition behaviors in A-B/H blends effectively. The dependences of the microscopic interaction parameter and the macrophase-microphase separation on temperature, molecular weight, block composition and segment size ratio of the diblock copolymer, density, and concentration of the added homopolymer, are investigated numerically within the framework of Gaussian chain statistics. The numerical calculations of site-site interchain pair correlation functions are performed to see the local structures for the model blends. The calculated phase diagrams for A-B/H blends from the polymer RISM theory are compared with results by the RPA model and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Our extended formal version shows the different feature from RPA in the microscopic phase separation behavior, but shows the consistency with TEM qualitatively. Scaling relationships of scattering peak, interaction parameter, and temperature at the microphase separation are obtained for the molecular weight of diblock copolymer. They are compared with the recent data by small-angle neutron scattering measurements.

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.225-233
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• 2007

To improve the poor mechanical and low-temperature properties of glycidyl azide polymer (GAP)-based propellants, the addition of binders was investigated using GAP and flexible polymer backbone-structural polycaprolactone (PCP) at various weight(wt) ratios, and varying the ratio of Desmodur N-100 pluriisocyanate (N-100) to isophorone diisocyanate (IPDI). Using Gee's theory, the solubility parameter of the PCP network was determined, in order to elucidate the physical and chemical interaction between GAP and PCP. The structure of the binder networks was characterized by measuring the cross-link densities and molecular weights between cross-links ($M_c$) obtained by a swelling experiment using Flory-Rhener theory. The thermal and mechanical properties of the segmented block copolyurethane (GAP-b-PCP) binders prepared by the incorporation of PCP into the binder recipes were investigated, along with the effect of the different curatives ratios.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.383-393
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• 2023

Conventional reinforced concrete design codes assume ideal strain evolution in semi-deep beams with externally bonded fiber-reinforced polymer (EB-FRP) web strips. However, there is a strain interaction between internal stirrups and web strips, leading to a notable difference between code-based and experimental shear strengths. Current study provides an experiment-verified detailed numerical framework to assess the potential strain interaction under quasi-static monotonic load. Based on the observations, steel stirrups are effective only for low EB-FRP amounts and the over-strengthening of semi-deep beams prevents the stirrups from yielding, reducing its shear strength contribution. A notable difference is detected between the code-based and the study-based EB-FRP strain values, which is a function of the normalized FRP stress parameter. Semi-analytical relations are proposed to estimate the effective strain and stress of the components considering the potential strain interaction. For the sake of simplification, a linearized correction factor is proposed for the EB-FRP web strip strain, assuming its restraining effect as constant for all steel stirrup amounts.