Miscibility Enhancement on the Immiscible Binary Blend of Poly(vinyl phenol) and Poly(acetoxystyrene) with Poly(ethylene oxide)

Abstract

AbstractSummary: The miscibility and hydrogen‐bonding behaviors of ternary polymer blends of poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO)/poly(vinyl phenol) (PVPh)/poly(acetoxystyrene) (PAS) were investigated by using DSC and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The PEO is miscible with both PVPh and PAS based on the observed single Tg over the entire composition range. FTIR was used to study the hydrogen‐bonding interactions between PEO with PAS and PVPh, respectively. Quantitative analyses show that the strength of hydrogen‐bonding strength is of the order of the hydroxyl‐ether inter‐association of PVPh/PEO blend > the hydroxyl‐hydroxyl self‐association of pure PVPh > the hydroxyl‐carbonyl inter‐association PVPh/PAS blend at room temperature. Furthermore, the addition of PEO is able to enhance the miscibility of immiscible PVPh/PAS binary blends at lower (20 wt.‐%) or higher (60 and 80 wt.‐%) PEO content. However, there exists a closed immiscibility loop in the phase diagram at 40 wt.‐% PEO content due to the “Δχ” and “ΔK” effects in this hydrogen‐bonded ternary polymer system. Therefore, an interesting and unusual sandwich phase diagram has been observed in this ternary polymer blend.Ternary phase diagram of the PEO/PAS/PVPh system.magnified imageTernary phase diagram of the PEO/PAS/PVPh system.