Thermoplastics modified with elastomers have attracted great interest of researchers and industries due to the low cost/benefit relationship and the possibility of significant increase in the toughness of brittle polymers through the incorporation of a dispersed rubber phase. This article shows the relationship between the interaction between phases and rubber phase dispersion in poly (vinyl chloride)/nitrile rubber blends. The interaction between components in polymer blends is an important factor to be considered in the development of this kind of materials because it determines the level of the mixture at the molecular level. The particulate nature of PVC and the degree of nitrile groups in the NBR are responsible to the PVC/NBR blends morphologies leading to an optimization of the mechanical properties when the rubber particles form a pseudo-network morphology with the rubber particles randomly dispersed in between the PVC primary particles.
Poly (vinyl chloride); PVC; nitrile rubber; NBR; PVC/NBR blend; miscibility; phase interaction; microrheology; rubber phase dispersion
