Macromolecular Rapid Communications, Vol.18, No.7, 561-567, 1997
Interfacial tension of demixed polymer solutions: augmentation by polymer additives
The interfacial tension between phase separated polymer solutions increases pronouncedly upon the addition of small amounts of incompatible polymers. This feature is demonstrated by means of measurements with solutions of polystyrene in cyclohexane and the following additives: poly(styrene-block-dimethylsiloxane), polyisobutylene and polydimethylsiloxane. Theoretical considerations based on a correlation between the lengths of tie lines and the corresponding interfacial tension corroborate this finding.