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Polymer blending has been identified as the most versatile and economical method to produce new multiphase polymeric materials that are able to satisfy the complex demands for performance.For thermodynamic reasons, most polymer pairs are immiscible.This may lead to an unstable or unwanted morphology, upon blending. For an immscible blend to exhibit good properties the interphase should be modified and the phase morphology should be well controlled.A stabilized morphology and hence better properties can, however, be achieved for such systems in many cases by compatibilization or dynamic vulcanization. Some of these compositions may exhibit the impressive characteristics of thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs) which have the advantages typical of both rubbery and plastic materials. More specifically, they become elastomers which can be processed by the easy methods for thermoplastics.
About the author
Sabu Thomas is a Professor of Polymer Science and Engineering at Mahatma Gandhi University (India). He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and a Fellow of the New York Academy of Sciences. Thomas has published over 300 papers in peer reviewed journals on his polymer composite, membrane separation, polymer blend and alloy, and polymer recycling research and has edited several books.
