pps proceeding - Abstract Preview
pps proceeding
Symposium: G16 - Morphology and structural development
Poster Presentation
 
 

Vorticity alignment of flowing polymer blends induced by anisotropic particles

Huang Yajiang (1)*

(1) Sichuan University - Sichuan - China

Although the role of particle surface chemistry and concentration on the droplet dynamics of immiscible polymer blends has been explored extensively, the crucial influence of particle shape on the morphological deformation of flowing polymer blends is far from being fully elucidated. In this study, the influence of particle shape on the droplet deformation of polyisobutylene (PIB)/polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) blends in the presence of polystyrene (PS) microparticles with different aspect ratios is examined by using rheo-optical technique and confocal microscopy. During show shearing, droplets are found to become elongated and rotate periodically about their major axes while aligning along the vorticity direction in ellipsoid-filled emulsions. However, similar behavior is not observed in the pristine, microsphere-filled or ellipsoid-filled inverse systems. Based on the Jeffery orbits theory, the formation of anisotropic droplets with extremely small Reynolds number due to arrested coalescence in Newtonian matrix and strong confinement effect are suggested to be responsible for the vorticity alignment of droplets during slow shearing. PS ellipsoids with high AR are found to reside both at the fluid interface in a monolayer side-on state and inside droplets, leading to the formation of rigid anisotropic droplets due to interfacial/bulk jamming effect at appropriate particle concentrations. In unconfined bulk samples, droplets with vorticity orientation can also be observed under the wall migration effect and confinement effect arising from nearby droplets. However, too strong wall confinement effect remarkably facilitates the coalescence of vorticity-aligned droplets during slow shear, eventually rendering the formation of long string-like phase aligning along the flow direction. High shear rates generate refined droplets with lower particle coverage and weak rigidity, which restrain the formation of anisotropic droplets and thus suppress droplet vorticity orientation.