Strength-Deformation Characteristics of Polyvinyl Alcohol/Polyvinyl Acetate Composite Films

Improvement of deformability of rigid polymers may be reached by forming its blends with certain more compliant polymers. Polyvinyl acetate (PVAc) was chosen as this yielding counter component for blends with rigid polyvinyl alcohol (PVA). Blends of PVA/PVAc were prepared by mixing of 10 wt % aqueous systems of both components. Films (150 ± 10 m thick) were made by solvent casting technique. Tensile stress  - strain relations of blend films were determined. Typical curves for all studied mixtures, as well as base components are shown in figure 1