Component dynamics in polymer blends: a combined QENS and dielectric spectroscopy investigation

Abstract

The individual dynamics of the two constituents of a binary polymer blend was studied by means of quasielastic neutron scattering and dielectric spectroscopy (DS). The combination of neutron spin-echo and backscattering techniques allowed us to cover the complete crossover from entropy-driven chain dynamics on mesoscopic scales to the α relaxation on local length scales. The observed blending effects on the respective relaxation times suggest a purely dynamic origin of the dynamic heterogeneity in polymer blends at temperatures well above the glass-transition temperature without the need to assume local phase separation. In contrast, the results from DS experiments towards much lower temperatures indicate systematic deviations of the segmental dynamics in the blend from its mean-field-like behavior at high temperatures. This additionally increases the dynamic heterogeneity in the segmental dynamics of the two components in the mixture. In the case of the chain dynamics, no similar effect could be observed within the same temperature range. Consequently, the extent of dynamic heterogeneity in a polymer blend seems to be intimately related to the spatial extension of the considered motional process.