Macroscopically homogeneous mixture of two or more different species of polymer.
Notes:
- In most cases, blends are homogeneous on scales larger than several times the wavelengths of visible light.
- In principle, the constituents of a blend are separable by physical means.
- No account is taken of the miscibility or immiscibility of the constituent macromolecules, i.e., no assumption is made regarding the number of phase domains present.
- The use of the term 'polymer alloy' for 'polymer blend' is discouraged, as the former term includes multiphase copolymers but excludes incompatible polymer blends.
- The number of polymeric components which comprise a blend is often designated by an adjective, viz., binary, ternary, quaternary.
Source:
PAC, 2004, 76, 1985
(Definition of terms related to polymer blends, composites, and multiphase polymeric materials (IUPAC Recommendations 2004))
on page 1987
Cite as:
IUPAC. Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 2nd ed. (the "Gold Book"). Compiled by A. D. McNaught and A.Wilkinson. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford (1997). XML on-line corrected version: http://goldbook.iupac.org (2006-) created by M. Nic, J. Jirat, B. Kosata; updates compiled by A. Jenkins. ISBN 0-9678550-9-8.
doi:10.1351/goldbook.
