Interface modification in polymer blends

It is well known that melt blending of immiscible polymer pairs leads to blends with a relatively weak adhesion between coarse phases and, accordingly, with a poor mechanical behavior. This situation can, however, be alleviated by the two strategies discussed. These two strategies are: the tailoring of commodity polymer blends and engineering plastics blends. A discussion is presented of polystyrene-polyolefin model materials and considerations of the role played by diblock copolymers. The preliminary results clearly show that functional groups selectively attached at both ends of linear immiscible chains can control the interfacial situation by promoting thermoreversible interactions.