An Online Visualization of Drop Breakup in Immiscible Polymer Blends in the Presence of an Interface Modifier

Blending of two immiscible polymers results in two phase microstructure in which the minor phase distributes inside the major one. Understanding the drop deformation and breakupis a practically important key point in blending of immiscible polymers under dynamic conditions. The presence of acopolymer in immiscible polymer blends though may facilitate the breakup of dispersed phase droplets but it also complicates the evolution of this phase. Copolymers changethe balance between the interfacial tension of droplet and the viscous forces required to deform and break up the droplet. Inimmiscible Newtonian systems two dimensionless numbers determine the deformation and breakup of droplets: the viscosity ratio (p) and the capillary number (Ca). The deformation is known to increase with increasing in the capillary number (Ca) or decreasing in the viscosity ratio (p).This paper discusses the visualization and investigation of deformation and breakup of droplets in an immiscible polymermatrix subjected to an increasing shear flow made in counterrotating cylinders (Couette cell)