Rheological determination of polymer-filler affinity

An experimental method to quantify the affinity of polymers for certain fillers is presented. In this method, the relative viscosity of filled and unfilled polymer systems as determined by capillary rheometry is taken as a measure of the thickness of the adsorbed layer of polymeric material on the filler surface and hence of the affinity of the polymer for the filler. A styrene-butadienestyrene block copolymer is thus found to have a higher affinity for talc than do polypropylene and an ethylene-propylene-diene terpolymer.