Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering, Vol.81, No.2, 243-257, 2003
Phase diagram for liquid crystalline polymer/polycarbonate blends
A novel mechanism to form binary polymer blends is through-phase separation by spinodal decomposition in the -unstable region of the phase diagram. The present work investigates the effects of thermally-induced phase separation by spinodal decomposition on the morphology development of liquid crystalline polymer/polycarbonate blends. Moreover, a thermodynamic binary phase, diagram is obtained using a twin-screw extruder, at various processing melt temperatures. Differential scanning calorimetry and scanning electron microscopy were,used to study the miscibility of the blends and the,resulting morphology. A thermodynamic binary phase diagram exhibiting a lower critical solution temperature was obtained. The droplet size distribution of the blend was also obtained and discussed in light of the Cahn-Hilliard theory.