BLENDS By Md.

Mohsin Alam

04/23/12

Blend Terminology
Miscible / homogeneous Mixtures whose components are soluble in one another, and therefore mix at the molecular level. Immiscible Mixtures whose components are completely or partially insoluble in one another, leading to multiple phases. Compatible An ill-defined term used for commercially attractive polymer mixtures that often appear to be homogeneous to the eye and demonstrate properties superiour to their pure components.

Alloy A macroscopically uniform physical properties that comprises a compatible blend, a miscible blend or a multiphase copolymer. It does not refer to incompatible, 04/23/12 immiscible blends.

Polymer Blending
Blends are comprised of two or more polymers, and are of commercial interest for a variety of reasons: If the mechanical properties required for a given application can be met by blending two polymers (usually an expensive engineering resin with a low-cost commodity material), then the formulation is less expensive. If you wish to recycle polymer products, you will likely encounter issues related to blending, since your polymer sources will vary widely in terms of purity. Some polymer combinations exhibit properties that are superiour to their parent polymers. This is called 04/23/12 3 synergism, and it is widely used for toughening of rigid

Homogeneous blends are termed as alloys. In contrast to these alloys, blend is a mechanical mixture of two or more polymers/co-polymers either in solid, amorphous or solution phase. When two or more polymers are intimately mixed in a single continuous solid product, the composition is generally referred to as a polymer blend or Polyblend.Polyblends are physical mixtures of structurally different homo or copolymers.
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Production of Blends
Polymerization: Several reactors in series are used to prepare a final product that contains a mixture of polymers. Solution casting: The polymers are dissolved in a common solvent. Blend is produced by evaporating the solvent and precipitating the resulting polymer mixture. Melt blending: High-shear mixers can generate

04/23/12

Miscibility
Miscibility of a polymer blend containing two polymers depends on the mutual solubility of the polymeric components. A blend is called compatible when the solubility parameters of the two components are nearer to each other and if the blend shows a single Tg. However most polymer pairs tend to be immiscible due to differences in their viscoelastic properties, surface tension and intermolecular interactions. In blending of immiscible polymers optimum adhesion between the dispersed phase (domain) and the matrix are gainfully attained through the use of a third component known as Compatiblilizer.
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Miscibility of Blend Components

Thermodynamically there are two classes of blends. In immiscible blends the constituent polymers do not mix, but remain in separate phases, leading to the formation of a dispersion of one of the polymers in a continuous matrix of the other. EXPERIMENTAL EVIDENCE INDICATES THAT MOST POLYMER PAIRS ARE COMPLETELTY IMMISCIBLE. Note that blends can exhibit complete immiscibility and partial immiscibility, just as in small molecule systems. In miscible blends the constituent polymers mix on a molecular level, to form a homogeneous material equivalent to a 04/23/12 7 polymer-polymer solution. The physical, chemical and

Difference between blend and alloy

Polymer alloys constitute a specific subclass of polymer blend. It may be said that all polymer alloys are polymer blends but all polymer blends are not polymer alloys. An immiscible polymer blend having undergone a modification of interfacial tension with the help of a third component called compatiblilizer thereby showing a more uniform distribution of the dispersed phase in the matrix material is generally 04/23/12 8 known as Polymer-Polymer alloy.

Compatibility
Compatible polymers are the polymer mixtures that have desirable physical properties when blended. Compatible polymers are the polymer mixtures that do not exhibit gross symptoms of phase separation when blended. Microscopically a single Tg is indicative of compatibility.
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Miscible
Polymer-Polymer miscibility is a subject of considerable debate because it represents different characteristics to different investigators. In general a blend with a single Tg will be classified as miscible.

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PP/EPDM
PP is marred by its poor impact strength at cold. This may be improved by copolymerization with olefin elastomer EPDM as an elasticizing component. For eg at 20deg the notched impact strength increases from 3 Kj/sq.m(Homo) to 7 kj/sq.m (Copolymer) up to 24 Kj/sq.m (elastomer blends). In addition to variations in molecular weight,MWD EPDM offers random polymer which amounts for increase in impact strength, however there is a sharp drop in stiffness and modulus of elasticity.
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Processing
PP/EPDM blends may be processed using all the standard methods used for PP.Molding compounds with poor flow are used for extrusion, blow molding, and compression molding. The material temperature is 250 deg.The processing involves high screw speed, material temperatures from 220-260 deg.and mold temperatures of about 60 deg. The holding pressure is high and long the gate is large.
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Application
Bumper covering, wheel bearing and boot linings Mud flaps, dash board,profiles,steering wheel coverings, door pockets Centre consoles, radiator grills, seat covers,etc.

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PVC/NBR
Medium and high nitriles give a homogeneous polymer phase with PVC.some of the blends are commercially available they usually contain 30% PVC. The optimum range of addition of PPVC to NBR is around 20-40%.

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Types of NBR/PVC Blends

50/50 45/55 65/35 70/30 NBR/PVC NBR/PVC NBR/PVC NBR/PVC

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Preparation of NBR/PVC Blends

These blends are produced in different techniques Powder mixing Latex blending Flux blending

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Properties
Improved resistance to ozone Resistance to fire and swelling in mineral oils and hydrocarbon salts. Tear and Flex crack resistance Thermal ageing and solvent resistance Disadvantage Deficiencies in low temperature resistance flexibility and compression set resistance. Low tensile strength
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Application
Cable jacket, Printing roll covers, gaskets valve disks and foot ball covers At higher concentration of PVC greater than 50% the application are in shoe dippers, book binding, vinyl adhesion, tubing and hoses etc. These blends are largely used to replace neoprene rubber. Heat resistance conveyor belting is one of the recent applications.
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