Rheology of multiphase polymer systems

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Polymer blends and filled thermoplastics are more and more used in an effort to obtain diversified and optimum properties for industrial materials. Most industrial polymer blends consist of immiscible components and the interface, morphology, orientation of domains and polymer chains as well as crystallinity affect considerably the performances of the final products. The morphology of the different phases in immiscible blends could be largely altered by the processing, due to coalescence and breakup of droplets or domains. Although most molten commercial polymers are highly elastic, the role of the elasticity of the polymer components on these phenomena is still totally obscure. Also, there is no successful rheological model to predict morphological changes in viscoelastic systems. The use of fillers in polymers such as glass fibers is a common operation for the production of high performance parts, to improve their mechanical strength, thermal stability and fire resistance. However, the understanding of the dispersion and orientation of filler particles, as well as of morphological changes of the structure during processing, combined with the complex rheology of polymer matrices, remains a major challenge.