The fractal geometry of spinodal decomposed polymer blends

The fractal behavior of ramified domains has been studied over the time range between the early and the late stages of spinodal phase separation in binary blends of poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) and statistical methyl methacrylate/n-butyl acrylate [P(MMA-stat-BA)]. The fractal dimension, d, was estimated to be about 1.71. The results show clearly the self-similar fractal character in the morphologies studied. A good agreement was found between mathematically generated structures and those observed by scanning electron microscopy during the spinodal decomposition.