A POLARIZED-LIGHT SCATTERING APPROACH FOR DISPERSED PHASE MORPHOLOGY CHARACTERIZATION IN SIMULATED POLYMER BLENDS

A light scattering technique using a normal-incidence polarized light beam for the characterization of skin/core simulated polymer blend samples is described. The patterns of reflected, polarized scattered light from an inhomogeneous blend were captured using a video camera. The blend was illuminated from a focused laser source. The simulated samples were constructed by incorporating glass fibers (skin) and glass microspheres (core) in a polymer matrix. Asymmetrical patterns were obtained. They reflect the anisotropic nature of the near-surface morphology. Moreover, the change of the anisotropy ratio of the iso-intensity curves plotted, as a function of distance from the position of the incident laser beam on the sample, gives information about the skin and the core content as well as the skin thickness.