Partial Miscibility in Copolymer Blends

Copolymers can be used to affect the miscibility of otherwise immiscible polymer blends by acting as compatibilizers. To better understand the energetics of these types of systems, we use a simple lattice model to study phase separation in binary copolymer/homopolymer blends. We focus on a copolymer that contains both A and B type monomers and a homopolymer that contains purely A type monomer. An example of a system that we are investigating is polyethylene mixed with either random or alternating poly(ethylene-co-propylene). The sequence effect on miscibility as the copolymer microstructure is varied from random to alternating is investigated as well.