Shapes of dispersed phase in confined PIB/PDMS blends with different compositions during shear flow

The morphology of immiscible fluid mixtures under confined environment usually displays different scenarios compared with those presented in bulk systems. In this work, the influence of confinement and component ratio on the droplet morphology of immiscible polyisobutylene (PIB)/polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) blends in confined steady shear flow was investigated. While increasing the degree of confinement, the morphology of dispersed phase experienced a transition from the bulk behavior toward the confined behavior. Increasing the concentration of PIB phases in confined blends resulted in more coarsened structure under low shear rate and generated pearl necklace or string-like structures under a higher shear rate. The maximum aspect ratio of PIB droplets increased while increasing PIB concentration. The width and the aspect ratio of PIB droplets obtained experimentally were compared to the predictions of a single droplet MM model for bulk flow and an M model considering confinement. The experimental droplet width agreed well with the predictions of these two models only in the small droplet zone, large deviations appeared for the degree of confinement up to 0.36 and higher, whereas constant droplet width was found. The M model decreased the deviation between the experimental aspect ratio and the prediction of MM model in the high Ca zone. Good agreement between the prediction of M model and experiment results was found when the orientation angles of the droplets were corrected by using the M model.