Free volume microprobe studies on poly(methyl methacrylate)/poly(vinyl chloride) and poly(vinyl chloride)/polystyrene blends

Abstract Blends of Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA)/Poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) and Poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC)/Polystyrene (PS) of different compositions were prepared by solution casting technique. The blends were characterized using Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), and Positron Lifetime Spectroscopy. DSC data were found to be inadequate to describe whether PMMA/PVC blends are miscible or not, possibly because of the small gap in their glass transition temperatures. On the other hand, PVC/PS blends were clearly found to be immiscible by DSC. FTIR results for PMMA/PVC indicate the possible interactions between the carbonyl group of PMMA and α-hydrogen of PVC. Free volume data derived from Positron lifetime measurements showed that the PMMA/PVC blends to be miscible in low PVC concentration domain. For the first time, the authors have evaluated the hydrodynamic interaction parameter α, advocated by Wolf and Schnell, Polymer, 42, 8599 (2001), to take into account the friction between the component molecules using the free volume data. This parameter (α) has a high value (−57) at 10 wt% of PVC, which could be taken to read miscibility for PMMA/PVC blends to be high. In the case of PVC/PS blends, the positron results fully support the DSC data to conclude the blends to be immiscible throughout the range of concentration. As expected, the hydrodynamic interaction parameter α does not show any change throughout the concentration in PVC/PS blends, further supporting the idea that α is another suitable parameter in the miscibility study of polymer blends. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 46:1231–1241, 2006. © 2006 Society of Plastics Engineer