Book Description

Knowledge of thermodynamics is a necessary tool for describing and understanding the physical behavior of new polymers and polymer blends, for instance, compatibility of components, rheological properties, morphological features, and mechanical properties. This book summarizes in a fairly comprehensive manner the recent technical research accomplishments in the area of thermodynamics, characterizations, and applications of polymer blends. In the first chapter, an overview of thermodynamic behaviors of non-equilibrium polymers is discussed. In the consecutive chapters, different properties of polymer blends are discussed, including surface tension, transition, crystallization, morphology, and flow behaviors. Miscibility and molecular characterizations of polymer blends are also covered in this book. Applications to various systems are reviewed, and both experimental concerns and references are supplied. In this time when science has such a strong tendency for diversification, this book demonstrates the relevance of one’s own activities with neighboring branches of activities. This book is unique in that the mathematics of the physics of polymers are minimized in order not to discourage the interest of a junior or senior undergraduate or new graduate student by an unnecessarily rigorous approach. However, book aims to widen the readers’ general knowledge with a better understanding of the physics of polymers. Applications to various systems are reviewed, and both experimental concerns and references are supplied.