Processing techniques and structural and morphological characterization

Any physical mixture of immiscible polymer matrices and nanoparticles, does not necessarily lead to the formation of a nanostructured immiscible polymer blend composite. For the production of the correct nanostructured polymer blend composite, the essential task is to have a balance of the favorable thermodynamic interactions between the polymer matrices and the nanoparticle surface to migrate nanoparticles at the interface. If the nanoparticles ultimately phase separate from the polymer matrices, the composite will not exhibit the expected improved properties. Therefore, it is also essential to understand the macroscopic phase behavior of the final composite. Another aspect is characterization of the composite materials. Several techniques have been recently proposed; however, there is still no single technique that can fully characterize the structure and morphology of nanoparticles-containing immiscible polymer blend composite. Therefore, this chapter first briefly summarizes two most commonly used methods for the preparation of blend composites and the advantages and disadvantages of various techniques generally used for the structural and morphological characterization of nanostructured immiscible polymer blend composites.