Phase behavior of binary and ternary blends having the same chemical components and compositions

Abstract

The phase behavior of binary blends of dimethylpolycarbonate-tetramethyl polycarbonate (DMPCTMPC) copolycarbonates and styrene-acrylonitrile (SAN) copolymers has been examined and then compared with that of DMPC/TMPC/SAN ternary blends having the same chemical components and compositions except that the DMPC and TMPC were present in the form of homopolymers. Both binary and ternary blends were miscible at certain blends compositions, and the miscible blends showed the LCST-type phase behavior or did not phase separated until thermal degradation temperature. The miscible region of binary blends is wider than that of the corresponding ternary blends. Furthermore, the phase-separation temperatures of miscible binary blends are higher than those of miscible ternary blends at the same chemical compositions. To explain the destabilization of polymer mixture with the increase of the number of component, interaction energies of binary pairs involved in these blends were calculated from the phase separation temperatures using lattice-fluid theory and then the phase stability conditions for the polymer mixture was analyzed with volume fluctuation thermodynamics.