RUI: Modeling of Reactive Compatibilization in Polymer Blends

9986879

Yeung

This is a Research at Undergraduate Institution (RUI) award to obtain a theoretical understanding of reactive compatibilization in polymer blends. Undergraduate students will be participating in the research. In the reactive compatibilization process, complementary functional groups are placed on different homopolymers of a polymer blend. These functionalized polymers react at the homopolymer-homopolymer interface to form a copolymer layer that produces blends with better properties by enhancing the interfacial adhesion, reducing the surface tension and hindering the coalescence of droplets. The combination of these effects produce blends with better thermal and mechanical properties.

A number of complementary numerical and analytical methods, including molecular dynamics, mean field dynamics, and a hybrid model incorporating both of these dynamics, will be employed to determine how the copolymer layer forms and grows with time. The different methods are valid in different regimes of reactivity and density of the functional groups, so reactive compatibilization for the entire range will be studied.

The results will increase our understanding of how the growth of the copolymer layer depends on the microscopic parameters. Scaling regimes and crossover times will be identified and compared with extant theoretical results. The physical mechanism behind each scaling regime will be identified by comparison to experimental measurements of the correlation function and average polymer displacement.

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This is a Research at Undergraduate Institution (RUI) award to obtain a theoretical understanding of reactive compatibilization in polymer blends. Undergraduate students will be participating in the research. In the reactive compatibilization process, complementary functional groups are placed on different homopolymers of a polymer blend. These functionalized polymers react at the homopolymer-homopolymer interface to form a copolymer layer that produces blends with better properties by enhancing the interfacial adhesion, reducing the surface tension and hindering the coalescence of droplets. The combination of these effects produce blends with better thermal and mechanical properties.

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