characteristics such as rigidity, toughness, abrasion resistance, chemical and flame
resistance, heat resistance, and ease of processing. In addition, they offer possible
economic bonuses such as lower cost, easier recycling, relatively rapid commercializa-
tion when based on already available constituents, and greater versatility of tailoring
to match users’ needs. The blend of polycarbonate (PC) and acrylonitrile butadi-
ene styrene (ABS) is a plastic material, which combines the strength of PC with the
flexibility of ABS. It is extensively used in the production of parts for automotive,
electronic, telecommunication, and toy industries. One of the biggest problems con-
cerning the development of new polymer blends is that only a few polymer pairs are
miscible, thermodynamically. The entropie driving force towards miscibility is too
small for polymer mixtures. Polystyrene∕polyphenylene is one of the few polymer
blends that are miscible. One of the ways of preventing the polymer blends from
demixing∕destabilizing is to add a third component that acts much like a surfactant.
It resides at the interface of the polymer domains and reduces the interfacial tension
or the driving force towards macro-phase separation. It also improves the adhesion
between the immiscible polymer domains and thus the mechanical properties of the
blend. These compatibilizers are often block copolymers. Thermodynamics and phase
behavior of the constituent polymers is used to search for the suitable compatibilizer
of the polymer blend.
The production and processing of polymers are also influenced by the presence
of phase separation and segregation, which may be either necessary or highly unde-