How does smart blending differ from conventional blending or mixing processes?
The same laws of physics apply! However, in smart blending, they are applied such that fine-scale internal shapes of melt components or orientation and arrangement of solid additives (i.e., polymer blend morphology or microstructure) can be more controllably and deliberately formed directly in melt processing steps. Polymer melt components are more deliberately formed into prescribed small-scale shapes such as numerous thin layers, long fibers, sponge-like structures, platelets and ribbons, and small droplets. The characteristic smallest dimensions of these shapes can be less than 1 micron and may be only tens of nanometers. Actual sizes depend on polymer melt properties such as viscosities and surface tensions. Solid additives such as carbon black or inorganic nano-platelets can also be arranged controllably into desirable structures for property enhancement purposes. Examples first demonstrated in LAPM&T include aligned nanoplatelets, conducting networks in carbon black, and oriented
