Monte Carlo simulation of phase behavior of polymer blends with special interactions

Full Paper: The phase, behavior of A-B-random copolymer/C-homopolymer, blends with special interaction was studied by a. Monte, Carlo simulation in two dimensions. The interaction between I segment A and segment C was repulsive, whereas it was attractive between segment B and segment C. The simulation results showed that the blend became two large co-continuous phase domains at lower segment-B component compositions, indicating that the blend showed spinodal decomposition. With an increase of the segment-B component, the miscibility between the copolymer,and the polymer was gradually improved up to being miscible. In addition, it was found that segment B tended to move to the surface of the copolymer phase in the case of a lower component of segment B. On the other hand, if was observed that the average, end-to-end distances ((h) over bar) for both copolymer and polymer changed slowly with increasing segment-B component of the copolymer up to 40%, thereafter they increased considerably with increasing segment B component. Moreover, it was found that the (h) over bar of the copolymer was obviously shorter than that of the homopolymer for the segment-B composition, region from 0% to 80%. Finally, a, phase diagram showing I phase and - II phase regions under the condition of constant-temperature is presented.

Mechanical properties of poly(beta-hydroxybutyrate)/poly(ethylene oxide) blends

Tensile properties of poly (P-hydroxybutyrate)/poly (ethylene oxide) (PHB/PEO) blends were reported in this paper. It was found that the blends of PHB with different molecular-weight PEO exhibited different mechanical properties. The mechanical properties of the blends of PHB and PEO3 (M-w=0.3x10(6)) were very poor. However, the blends of PHB and PEO5 (M-w=5x10(6)) showed compatible in mechanical properties. Excellent synergism was observed not only in tensile stress and tensile elongation but also in modulus. Moreover, the ductility of the blends could be improved further under proper heat-treatment.

Thermodynamics of PMMA/SAN blends: Application of the Sanchez-Lacombe lattice fluid theory

Polymer blends of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and poly(styrene-co-acrylonitrile) (SAN) with an acrylonitrile content of about 30 wt % were prepared by means of solution-casting and characterized by virtue of pressure-volume-temperature (PVT) dilatometry. The Sanchez-Lacombe (SL) lattice fluid theory was used to calculate the spinodals, the binodals, the Flory-Huggins (FH) interaction parameter, the enthalpy of the mixing, the volume change of the mixing, and the combinatorial and vacancy entropies of the mixing for the PMMA/SAN system. A new volume-combining rule was used to evaluate the close-packed volume per mer, upsilon*, of the PMMA/SAN blends. The calculated results showed that the new and the original volume-combining rules had a slight influence on the FH interaction parameter, the enthalpy of the mixing, and the combinatorial entropy of the mixing. Moreover, the spinodals and the binodals calculated with the SL theory by means of the new volume-combining rule could coincide with the measured data for the PMMA/SAN system with a lower critical solution temperature, whereas those obtained by means of the original one could not.

Reactive reinforcement of the interface of high performance polymer blends by PMR-POI

The effect of PMR-polyimide(POI) as the interfacial agent on the interface characteristics, morphology features and crystallization of poly (ether sulfone) /poly (phenylene sulfide) (PES/PPS) and poly(ether ether ketone)/poly (ether sulfone) (PEEK/PES) partly miscible blends were investigated by means of the scanning electron microscopy, WAXD and XPS surface analysis. It is found that the interfacial adhesion was enhanced remarkably, the size of the dispersed phase particles was reduced significantly and the miscibility was improved by the addition of POI. During melt blending cross-link and/or grafting reaction of POI with PES, PEEK and PPS homopolymers was detected, however the reaction activity of POI with PPS was much higher than that of PES and PEEK. It was also found that POI was an effective nucleation agent of the crystallization of PPS.

The compatibility and morphology of HIPS/PC and HIPS-g-GMA/PC blends

The compatibility and morphology of HIPS/PC and HIPS-g-GMA/PC blends were studied. The compatibility and morphology of HIPS/PC blends were characterized by DSC and SEM, respectively. The result of DSC shows that T-g of PS doesn't change with the blend composition, and T-g of PC decreases with the increase in weight fraction of HIPS, which indicates that the PC/HIPS blend is a partially miscible system. Results of SEM indicate that the decrease in T-g of PC results from PS interpenetrating into the phase of PC, and no change in T-g of PS results from PC not interpenetrating into the phase of PS. The copolymer of HIPS-g-GMA was prepared by reactive grafting method. The IR spectrum shows that GMA is grafted on the chain of HIPS. The compatibility and morphology of HIPS-gGMA (35)/PC (65) were studied by DSC and SEM. PC (65)/HEPS-g-GMA (35) blend exhibits reduced size of disperse phase, enhanced interface adhesion and lower T-g of PC phase as compared with the PC(65)/HIPS(35) blend. It implies that HIPS-g-GMA is an effective compatibilizer of the HIPS/PC blend.

Brittle-ductile transition in high-density polyethylene/glass-bead blends: Effects of interparticle distance and temperature

The toughness of high-density polyethylene (HDPE)/glass-bead blends containing various glass-bead contents as a function of temperature was studied. The toughness of the blends was determined from the notch Izod impact test. A sharp brittle-ductile transition was observed in impact strength-interparticle distance (ID) curves at various temperatures. The brittle-ductile transition of HDPE/glass-bead blends occurred either with reduced ID or with increased temperature. The results indicated that the brittle-ductile-transition temperature dropped markedly with increasing glass-bead content. Moreover, the correlation between the critical interparticle distance (ID.) and temperature was obtained. Similar to the ID, of polymer blends with elastomers, the ID, nonlinearly increased with increasing temperature. However, this was the first observation of the variation of the ID, with temperature for polymer blends with rigid particles. (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym. Sci Part B: Polym. Phys 39: 1855-1859, 2001.

The glass transition temperatures of PS/PPO blends: Couchman volume-based equation and its verification

The glass transition temperatures (T-g) of PS/PPO blends with different compositions were studied under various pressures by means of a PVT-100 analyzer. A general relation of T-g and pressure of the PS/PPO system was deduced by fitting the experimental T-g's. Couchman volume-based equation was testified with the aid of those data. It was found that the experimental T-g's do not obey the Couchman equation of glass transition temperature based on thermodynamic theory. According to our studies, the major reason of the deviation is caused by the neglect of DeltaV(mix). (C) 2001 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.

Theoretical calculation of Flory-Huggins and scattering interaction parameters by means of the lattice fluid theory for PVME/PSD blends

By fitting the spinodals of poly(vinyl methyl ether)/deuterated polystyrene (PVME/PSD) systems, the adjustable parameters epsilon (12)* and delta epsilon* in the Sanchez-Balasz lattice fluid (SBLF) theory could be determined for different molecular weights. According to these parameters, Flory-Huggins and scattering interaction parameters were calculated for PVME/PSD with different molecular weights by means of the SELF theory. From our calculation, Flory-Huggins and scattering interaction parameters are both Linearly dependent on the reciprocal of the temperature, and almost linearly on the concentration of PSD. Compared with the scattering interaction parameters, the Flory-Huggins interaction parameters decreased more slowly with an increase in the concentration for all three series of blends.

Blends of polyamide 1010 with ungrafted and maleic anhydride grafted high impact polystyrene

The crystallization, dynamic mechanical properties, tensile properties and morphology features of polyamidel 1010(PA1010) blends with the high impact polystyrere (HIPS) and maleic anhydride (MA) grafted HIPS(HIPS-g-MA) were examined at a wide composition range. By comparison the PA1010/HIPS-g-MA and PA1010/HIPS binary blends, it was found that the size of the domains of HIPS-g-MA was much smaller than that of HIPS at the same compositions. It was found that the mechanical properties of PA1010/HIPS-g-MA blends were obviously higher than those of PA1010/HIPS blends. When the content of PA1010 is more than 50wt% in the blends, the crystallization temperatures, T-cs, of PA1010 increase with increasing the content of HIPS-g-MA. On the other hand, when the content of PA1010 in the blends is less than 35wt% the fraction crystallization is observed. The same result is not obtained for the blends of PA1010/HIPS. These behaviors could be attributed to the chemical interactions between the two components and good dispersion in PA1010/HIPS-g-MA blends.

Mixing enthalpy and phase behavior of PEO/PVAc blends

Phase behaviors and heats of mixing of the miscible blends of poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) and poly(vinyl acetate) (PVAc) with different molecular weights were investigated by DSC. A method proposed by Natasohn and Ebert et al. was adopted to estimate the binodal temperatures and the enthalpies of mixing from onset temperatures and values of areas of a series of endothermic peaks (corresponding to heats of demixing), respectively, in their heating scanning thermograms obtained with different heating rates. Phase diagrams and heats of mixing of this blending system were also predicted by using Sanchez-Lacombe lattice fluid theory. A very good agreement was obtained for both. phase behaviors and heats of mixing obtained with two different methods.

Blends of polyamide1010 with unmodified and maleic-anhydride-grafted high-impact polystyrene

The crystallization behaviors, dynamic mechanical properties, tensile, and morphology features of polyamide1010 (PA1010) blends with the high-impact polystyrene (HIPS) were examined at a wide composition range. Both unmodified and maleicanhydride-(MA)-grafted HIPS (HIPS-g-MA) were used. It was found that the domain size of HIPS-g-MA was much smaller than that of HIPS at the same compositions in the blends. The mechanical performances of PA1010-HIPS-g-MA blends were enhanced much more than that of PA1010-HIPS blends. The crystallization temperature of PA1010 shifted towards higher temperature as HIPS-g-MA increased from 20 to 50% in the blends. For the blends with a dispersed PA phase (less than or equal to 35 wt %), the T-c of PA1010 shifted towards lower temperature, from 178 to 83 degrees C. An additional transition was detected at a temperature located between the T-g's of PA1010 and PS. It was associated with the interphase relaxation peak. Its intensity increased with increasing content of PA1010, and the maximum occurred at the composition of PA1010-HIPS-g-MA 80/20. (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 74: 857-865, 1999.

Morphologies and physical properties of PA1010/HIPS/HIPS-g-MA ternary blends

The effect of the content of a copolymer consisting of high impact polystyrene grafted with maleic anhydride (HIPS-g-MA) on morphological and mechanical properties of PA1010/HIPS blends has been studied. Blend morphologies were controlled by adding HIPS-g-MA during melt processing, thus the dispersion of the HIPS phase and interfacial adhesion between the domains and matrices in these blends were changed obviously. The weight fractions of HIPS-g-MA in the blends increased from 2.5 to 20, then much finer dispersions of discrete HIPS phase with average domain sizes decreased from 6.1 to 0.1 mu m were obtained. It was found that a compatibilizer, a graft copolymer of HIPS-g-MA and PA1010 was synthesized in situ during the melt mixing of the blends. The mechanical properties of compatibilized blends were obviously better than those of uncompatibilized PA1010/HIPS blends. These behaviors could be attributed to the chemical interactions between the two components of PA1010 and HIPS-g-MA and good dispersion in PA1010/HIPS/HIPS-g-MA blends. Evidence of reactions in the blends was seen in the morphology and mechanical behaviour of the solid. The blend containing 5 wt % HIPS-g-MA component exhibited outstanding toughness. (C) 1999 Kluwer Academic Publishers.

Miscibility and crystallization behavior of poly(beta-hydroxybutyrate)/poly(ethylene oxide) blends

The miscibility and crystallization behavior of poly(beta-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB)/poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) blends were studied by differential scanning calorimetry(DSC) and polarizing microscopy (POM). It is found that the miscibility is related to the composition of the blends. When the PEO content is over 20 percent, the miscible blends turn into partially miscible and the phase separation can be observed with POM. The addition of the PEO influences not only the morphology of PHB crystals and the radial growth rate of spherulites, but also the cold crystallization temperature.

Syndiotactic polystyrene/thermoplastic polyurethane blends using poly(styrene-b-4-vinylpyridine) diblock copolymer as a compatibilizer

The effect of adding diblock copolymer poly(styrene-b-4-vinylpyridine) (P(S-b-4VPy), to immiscible blends of syndiotactic polystyrene (sPS)/thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) on the morphology, thermal transition, crystalline structure, and rheological and mechanical properties of the blends has been investigated. The diblock copolymer was synthesized by sequential anionic copolymerization and was melt-blended with sPS and TPU. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) showed that the added block copolymer reduced the domain size of the dispersed phase in the blends. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD) revealed that the extent of compatibility between sPS and TPU affected the crystallization of the sPS in the blends. Tensile strength and elongation at break increased, while the dynamic modulus and complex viscosity decreased with the amount of P(S-b-4VPy) in the blend. The compatibilizing effect of the diblock copolymer is the result of its location at the interface between the sPS and the TPU phases and penetration of the blocks into the: corresponding phases, i.e. the polystyrene block enters the noncrystalline regions of the sPS, and the poly(4-vinylpyridine) block interacts with TPU through intermolecular hydrogen bonding. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Rheological, thermal, and morphological properties of ABS-PA1010 blends

Noncompatibilized and compatibilized ABS-nylon1010 blends were prepared by melt mixing. Polystyrene and glycidyl methacrylate (SG) copolymer was used as a compatibilizer to enhance the interfacial adhesion and to control the morphology. This SG copolymer contains reactive glycidyl groups that are able to react with PA1010 end groups (-NH2 or -COOH) under melt conditions to form SG-g-Nylon copolymer. Effects of the compatibilizer SG on the rheological, thermal, and morphological properties were investigated by capillary rheometer, DSC, and SEM techniques. The compatibilized ABS-PA1010 blend has higher viscosity, lower crystallinity, and smaller phase domain compared to the corresponding noncompatibilized blend. (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.