| Abstract: | This contribution embraces two topics related to phase behavior of polymer blends under equilibrium and nonequilibrium. 1. Polymer blends can undergo different phase changes as liquid-liquid phase transition and crystallization. Coupling of demixing and crystallization may occur at the kinetic stage. This is illustrated by blends of poly(ϵ-caprolactone)(PCL) and poly(styrene-co-acrylonitrile)(SAN). 2. Extension of studies to blend systems under flow is necessary for the better understanding of structure formation in polymer blends outside equilibrium. Polymer molecules will be oriented and stretched when subjected to flow. This may result in flow-induced phenomena. Effects of flow on the phase behavior have been studied only for a few blends, as yet. The primary observation was flow-induced miscibility. Apparent shifts of the phase transition temperatures will be discussed qualitatively in terms of a decoupled mode theory. |
