Morphology of PMMA/polyoxide blends and grafted copolymers using etching and staining techniques

The morphology of poly(methyl methacrylate), poly(ethylene oxide) blend and the grafted copolymer poly(methyl methacrylate-g-ethylene oxide) was observed by scanning electron microscopy. The contrast was obtained by an etching technique, removing the PEO phase out of the blend. The PEO phase of the copolymer was stained with OsO₄ and better contrast was observed using a back-scattering image. The PEO phase was shown to be distributed as spherical domains in the PMMA matrix for both the copolymer and the blend.