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a) b - École Polytechnique de Montréal

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APPENDIX I<br />

A- 1 Ultra-Low Percolation Thresholds in Ternary Co-<br />

Continuous Polymer Blends<br />

Jianhong Zhang, Sepehr Ravati, Nick Virgilio, and Basil D. Favis ∗<br />

CREPEC, Department of Chemical Engineering, <strong>École</strong> <strong>Polytechnique</strong> <strong>de</strong> <strong>Montréal</strong>, <strong>Montréal</strong>,<br />

Québec, H3C 3A7 Canada<br />

Published in Macromolecules in December 2007<br />

A-1.1. Introduction. In binary immiscible polymer blends, as the concentration of the minor<br />

component increases, the structure percolates and its continuity also increases (Potschke & Paul,<br />

2003; Reignier & Favis, 2000). At higher concentrations, closely associated with the region of<br />

phase inversion, a co-continuous morphology is obtained and is characterized by two fully<br />

continuous phases. By selectively controlling the interface, composition, processing temperature,<br />

shear rate and annealing time of the blends, it is possible to control the pore size of the cocontinuous<br />

network over 2-3 or<strong>de</strong>rs of magnitu<strong>de</strong> (Yuan & Favis, 2004, 2006). Co-continuous<br />

polymer blends have the potential of opening particular application fields where the presence of<br />

interconnected structures are a necessary feature (as in separation phenomena, electrical<br />

conductivity, tissue engineering scaffolds and drug <strong>de</strong>livery <strong>de</strong>vices). A significant body of<br />

∗ Corresponding author. E-mail: basil.favis@polymtl.ca Tel: +1-(514)3404711 ext.4527. Fax:<br />

+1-(514)3404159<br />

234

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