book review: polymer blends. macromolecular symposia, vol. 112. edited by l. a. l. kleintjens....

330 Book reviews

The Ðnal section includes chapters on mini-emulsions,inverse EP, and solvent based emulsions, usually referred to asformed by dispersion polymerization. The Ðnal chapterincludes less conventional latexes, including polymerization invesicles. Conductive polymers (not vinyl) and, unusually, EPof a siloxane by an ionic mechanism, which may involve abasic catalyst and a cationic surfactant, or dodecylbenzene-sulphonic acid which is both catalyst and surfactant.

My main criticism of this volume is that, except for twoGR-S “recipesÏ and one for polychloroprene rubber in thechapter by Blackley, I have not detected a single formulationwhich could be used to perform a polymerization to give astable latex, free from coagulum, freezeÈthaw stable, with thecorrect viscosity and Ðlm forming characteristics making ituseful for a standard application, such as a coating or adhe-sive.

H. Warson

blends. Macromolecular symposia, Vol. 112.PolymerEdited by L. A. L. Kleintjens.Hu� thig and Wepf, Zug, Switzerland, 1996.Price SFr72, DM88, o� S623, US$60.ISBN 3-85739-309-2

This issue of Macromolecular symposia, contains most of thepapers presented orally at the Fifth European Symposium onPolymer Blends held in Maastricht in May 1996.

After a general introduction the 27 papers fall under Ðveheadings : general introduction ; blend preparation ; processingand compounding ; properties and performance of polymerblends ; reactive systems and chemical modiÐcation ofPolymer Blends ; and molecular architecture : new develop-ments.

The nine papers in the “General introductionÏ include workon the reactor polymer alloys, heterogeneous and homoge-

neous metallocene catalysts, molecular modelling of phasebehaviour of polymer blends, the correlation between segmentinteraction parameter and interface width and the applicationof equation of state theories to poly(styrene-co-acrylonitrile)/poly(methyl methacrylate) blends. Other papers are concernedwith the calculation of miscibility behaviour of multinarypolymer blends, estimation of interactions in blends of poly-amides, polyesters and polycarbonate using copolymers ascompatibilizers, phase separation in thermoplasticÈthermosetpolymer blends and interdi†usion in a partially miscible blendsystem.

In “Preparation, processing and compoundingÏ are paperson mixing efficiency, phase inversion, numerical simulation ofdistributive mixing in 3D Ñows and the morphological controlof impact toughness in poly(methyl methacrylate)/acrylo-nitrileÈbutadiene rubber blends.

Four papers on “Properties and performanceÏ include in situdeformation of rubber toughened poly(methyl methacrylate)using SAXS, on the compatibilization of polyamides andpoly(arylether sulphone), a SAXS study of plasticallydeformed rubber-modiÐed polystyrene and on the limitationsof short-term ageing tests.

Five papers on reactive processing and compatibilizationinclude chemical modiÐcation of polyoleÐn blends and the insitu preparation of graft copolymers.

Finally, there are four papers dealing with encapsulation,surfactant-induced mesomorphic behaviour of Ñexible poly-mers, microphase separation in correlated random copoly-mers, and blends of non-Ñexible and Ñexible polymers as aroute to molecular composites.

This is clearly a book for the specialist and not for thebeginner. It contains much that is of interest but it is quitevariable in depth and in the degree to which each paper con-tributes to new knowledge. It is probably a book for thelibrary rather than for individual purchase.

J.D. Hourston

POLYMER INTERNATIONAL VOL. 45, NO. 3, 1998