Influence of side chain lengths of graft copolymers on compatibilization of homopolymer a/homopolymer b/graft copolymer ternary blends: A Monte Carlo Simulation

Abstract

The Monte Carlo method was used to investigate the effect of graft length and architecture on the efficiency of compatibilization in A/B/graft copolymer ternary blends. In this study, homopolymer B is always dispersed phase. When the graft length of the copolymer is relatively short, A20Bn copolymers (A block is the backbone, and B block is the graft) tend to form micelles in the matrix phase, whereas the B20An (B block is the backbone, and A block is the graft) copolymers tend to form micelles in the dispersed phase. We also find that the micelles in the dispersed phase (formed by B20An copolymers) can effectively suppress the coalescence of the dispersed phases, whereas the micelles in matrix phase (formed by A20Bn copolymers) have no effect on suppressing the coalescence. As a result, when the graft length is relatively short, B 20An copolymers can lead to smaller dispersed phases than A20Bn copolymers. Moreover, when the graft is relatively long, A20Bn copolymers were found to connect the dispersed phases and form netlike structure, whereas B20An copolymers were found to locate at the phase interface and anchor the dispersed phase and matrix phase. Furthermore, both A20Bn and B 20An copolymers with relatively long graft lengths can well reduce the size of the dispersed phase.