Study on phase-separation of PMMA/SAN blends induced by glass beads through dynamic rheological measurements

Based on the premise that the addition of glass beads (GB) could hardly influence the linear viscoelasticity in low frequency (omega) region for homogeneous polymer systems, the dynamic rheological behaviors of unfilled and filled poly(methyl methyacrylate) (PMMA)/poly(styrene-co-acrylonitrile) (SAN) blends were studied in order to explore the effect of GB on the phase-separation of binary polymer matrix. Results show that GB has an induced effect on the phase-separation, which embodies that the phase-separation temperature (T-s) of PMMA/SAN blend filled with GB is lower than that of the unfilled system. The higher content of GB, the higher is the "secondary plateau" of omega in the terminal region of storage modulus (G') versus omega plot. The "secondary plateau" appearing in the terminal region is attributed to the phase-separation of PMMA/SAN blends and it becomes more flat for filled polymer blends under the same conditions. However, it is suggested that this kind of "induced effect" is related to the GB content; the higher content of GB particles might enhance the interaction between the particles and polymer matrix. Moreover, it is found that the addition of GB also has an influence more or less on the morphology and domain size of polymer matrix. It is believed that the plot of dynamic viscosity (eta') versus the loss viscosity (eta '') is sensitive to examine the effect induced by GB on the phase-separation of binary polymer matrix.