Abstract
The effects of molecular weight distribution on the phase stability of polymer mixtures were explored theoretically and experimentally. Based on the lattice-fluid theory and volume-fluctuation thermodynamics, the spinodal conditions for a lattice-fluid mixture of two polymers with molecular weight distribution were derived. The results indicated that the phase stability of a polymer mixture decreases by increasing the molecular weight distribution of polymers in the blend. To confirm the theoretical results with experiments, the changes in the spinodal temperatures of poly(ethyl methacrylate)/polystyrene (PEMA/PS) blends and tetramethyl polycarbonate/polystyrene (TMPC/PS) blends were examined when each component has a different molecular weight distribution. When the weight-average molecular weight of each component is the same, a blend composed of polymers having broad molecular weight distribution always exhibited lower phase separation than that composed of polymers having narrow molecular weight distribution at the same blend composition. Copyright © 2004 Society of Chemical Industry
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