Immiscible Polymer Blends Containing Dibutyrylchitin as Environmentally Friendly Materials

Abstract

The morphological and physical properties of polymer blends containing dibutyrylchitin (DBCh) are presented in this paper. Two different synthetic polymers, polystyrene (PS) and poly(vinyl acetate) (PVAc) were blended with dibutyrylchitin in common solvent (dimethyl-formamide or methanol) in various weight fractions of DBCh. The films of the blends were prepared by casting method. A polarizing microscope with computer image analyser and differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) were used to evaluate the phase morphology. Microscopic studies indicate heterogeneous structures of both blends. DSC studies show that a characteristic endothermic peak observed for DBCh influenced by water moisturizing effect is shifting toward lower temperatures with an increasing content of the synthetic polymers. The values of glass transition temperatures Tg of both synthetic polymers were found weakly affected by the presence of DBCh.