Abstract
Microscopic characterization of the phase morphology of poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) modified with chlorinated polyethylene (CPE) is vital to understanding the blend physical properties. A 2-3 week CPE selective staining technique, developed by Fleischner et al., has been the mainstay for recent TEM investigations of CPE/PVC. Several researchers employing this method have reported a network structure of CPE surrounding primary PVC particles.Rapid electron beam-induced dehydrochlorination of chlorinated polymers prohibits TEM examination of unstained sections. Chemical changes resulting from such dehydrochlorination of polymers was addressed recently by Vesely and Finch. In this study we investigated unstained thin sections, obtained at ambient temperature with a diamond knife, by scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) on a JEOL 2000 FX.As the STEM micrographs show (Figs. 1-3), sufficient contrast was available to distinguish CPE (light phase) from the PVC matrix (dark). Differences in initial chlorine concentration and rates of beam-induced mass loss most likely account for the contrast between phases.
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