Materials, Interfaces, and Electrochemical Phenomena

Compatibilizer-tracer: A powerful concept for polymer-blending processes

  1. Cai-Liang Zhang1,2,
  2. Lian-Fang Feng1,*,
  3. Sandrine Hoppe2,
  4. Guo-Hua Hu2,3,*

Article first published online: 27 JUL 2011

DOI: 10.1002/aic.12723

Issue

AIChE Journal

AIChE Journal

Volume 58, Issue 6, pages 1921–1928, June 2012

Additional Information

How to Cite

Zhang, C.-L., Feng, L.-F., Hoppe, S. and Hu, G.-H. (2012), Compatibilizer-tracer: A powerful concept for polymer-blending processes. AIChE J., 58: 1921–1928. doi: 10.1002/aic.12723

Author Information

  1. 1

    State Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering, Dept. of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China

  2. 2

    Laboratory of Reactions and Process Engineering, Nancy University, CNRS-ENSIC-INPL, 1 rue Grandville, BP 20451, 54001 Nancy, France

  3. 3

    Institut Universitaire de France, Maison des Universités, 103 Boulevard Saint-Michel, 75005 Paris, France

*State Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering, Dept. of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 4 MAY 2012
  2. Article first published online: 27 JUL 2011
  3. Accepted manuscript online: 7 JUL 2011 08:54AM EST
  4. Manuscript Revised: 13 JUN 2011
  5. Manuscript Received: 23 MAR 2011

Funded by

  • National Natural Science Foundation of China. Grant Numbers: 50390097, 20310285
  • Ministry of Science and Technology of China through an international cooperation program. Grant Number: 2001CB711203
  • State Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering. Grant Number: SKL-ChE-08D03

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Keywords:

  • compatibilizer-tracer;
  • polymer blend;
  • emulsification curve;
  • in-line measurement;
  • twin-screw extruder

Abstract

Polymer blending is a very important polymer processing operation. It aims at preparing new polymer materials by blending existing polymers without the need of creating new molecules. For immiscible polymer blends, it is always challenging, if not impossible, to choose an appropriate compatibilizer and assess its compatibilizing efficiency under pilot or industrial polymer-blending conditions. The concept of compatibilizer-tracer developed in this work is able to take this challenge. This is shown using polystyrene (PS)/polyamide 6 (PA6) blends and fluorescent labeled graft copolymers of PS and PA6 as compatibilizer-tracer. Transient experiments allow using very small amounts of compatibilizer-tracer to obtain emulsification curves, namely, the evolution of the dispersed phase domain size as a function of the compatibilizer-tracer concentration. Other potential applications of this concept are discussed and its limitations are investigated. © 2010 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 58: 1921–1928, 2012

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