Summary: The present communication reports the first use of electron tomography in reconstructing the three‐dimensional morphology in thermoplastic elastomer blends. The blends investigated were dynamically vulcanized blends of ethylene‐propylene‐diene (EPDM) rubber/poly(propylene)/oil and polystyrene‐block‐(ethylene‐co‐butylene)‐block‐polystyrene (SEBS)/poly(propylene)/oil. An easy identification of blend morphology could be carried out at blend compositions, where conventional transmission electron microscopic imaging gives misleading information. This technique gives a higher resolution than any other microscopic technique, and is applicable to blends with dispersed as well as co‐continuous morphologies.
Example of a tomographic model of partially co‐continuous SEBS phases in a SEBS/PP/oil thermoplastic blend. Only the contours of the SEBS phase are shown.
