• Meijer, H. E. H.
• Anderson, Pd Patrick
• Van, P. C. J. Puyvelde
• Keestra, B. J.

Abstract

The objective of this work is to predict macroscopic properties of polymer blends, such as the first normal stress difference based on the information obtained with simulations of morphology development on a microstructural level. A numerical model, based on a Galerkin spectral element technique,is applied to study morphology development including the kinetics of phase separation in a homogeneous shear flow. The theory of Cahn and Hilliard, describing the free energy of a non-uniform system with local and non-local gradient terms, is used in the framework of non-classical thermodynamics described by de Groot and Mazur. Dependent on the shear rate and the Capillary number different morphologies are found. The results show that the model can deal with breakup and coalescence without any additional decision criteria. Moreover, rheological properties of the different blends are derived and discussed.

Topics

• impedance spectroscopy
• morphology
• phase
• theory
• simulation
• polymer blend