Effect of tacticity of poly(methyl methacrylate) on the miscibility with poly(vinyl pyrrolidone)

Abstract

Isotactic, atactic, and syndiotactic poly(methyl methacrylates) (PMMA) (designated iPMMA, aPMMA, and sPMMA) with approximately the same molecular weight were mixed separately with poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP) primarily in chloroform to make three polymer blend systems. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) was used to study the miscibility of these blends. The results showed that the tacticity of PMMA has a definite impact on its miscibility with PVP. The aPMMA/PVP and sPMMA/PVP blends were found to be miscible because all the prepared films showed composition-dependent glass-transition temperatures (Tg). The glass-transition temperatures of the aPMMA/PVP blends are equal to or lower than weight average and can be qualitatively described by the Gordon–Taylor equation. The glass-transition temperatures of the other miscible blends (i.e., sPMMA/PVP blends) are mostly higher than weight average and can be approximately fitted by the simplified Kwei equation. The iPMMA/PVP blends were found to be immiscible or partially miscible based on the observation of two glass-transition temperatures. The immiscibility is probably attributable to a stronger interaction among isotactic MMA segments because its ordination and molecular packing contribute to form a rigid domain. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 81: 3190–3197, 2001