Interpolymer complexes and polymer compatibility

A reliable method to decide whether two polymers A and B are miscible or incompatible would be very helpful in many ways. In this contribution we demonstrate why traditional procedures cannot work. We propose to use the intrinsic viscosities [η] of the polymer blends instead of the composition dependence of the viscosities as a criterion for polymer miscibility. Two macromolecules A and B are miscible because of sufficiently favorable interactions between the two types of polymer segments. For solutions of these polymers in a joint solvent, this Gibbs energetic preference of dissimilar intersegmental contacts should prevail upon dilution and lead to the formation of interpolymer complexes, manifesting themselves in deviations from the additivity of intrinsic viscosities.