Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Polystyrene (PS) and poly(2,6-dimethyl-1,4-phenylene ether) (PPE, also called PPO) form one of the few commercially important miscible polymer pairs, and this fact shapes any discussion of nanotube migration in PS/PPE composites. This paper compares published evidence on PS/PPE phase behaviour with the literature on selective localization of carbon nanotubes in immiscible blends. Calorimetric data show a single composition dependent glass transition for PS/PPE, although early dynamic mechanical work found two relaxation peaks, so the miscibility question depends on the length scale probed. In a truly single phase melt, "migration" can only mean kinetic redistribution of nanotubes during mixing; in immiscible pairs such as PC/SAN, PP/PS and PEO/PE, nanotubes cross interfaces within minutes and the threshold falls by double percolation. The one verified PPE/PS nanotube study reports a percolation threshold of 0.4 wt% multiwalled nanotubes and a conductivity rise of about twelve orders of magnitude at 0.5 wt%. Interphase migration in PS/PPE is, on this evidence, unproven; what a formulator can actually adjust is local viscosity, mixing time and the choice of a third polymer phase.
Author: Jyoti Mishra
Institution: D.B.S. Degree (PG) College
Language: English
Subfield: Materials Chemistry
Field: Materials Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W7223554617