Phase Diagram for Liquid Crystalline Polymer/ Polycarbonate Blends

A novel mechanism to form binary polymer blends is through phase separation by spinodal decomposition in the unstable region of the phase diagram. The present work investigates the effects of thermally-induced phase separation by spinodal decomposition on the morphology development of liquid crystalline polymer/polycarbonate blends. Moreover, a thermodynamic binary phase diagram is obtained using a twin-screw extruder at various processing melt temperatures. Differential scanning calorimetry and scanning electron microscopy were used to study the miscibility of the blends and the resulting morphology. A thermodynamic binary phase diagram exhibiting a lower critical solution temperature was obtained. The droplet size distribution of the blend was also obtained and discussed in light of the Cahn-Hilliard theory.