Relationship between polymerization kinetics and microstructure in reactive polymer blends: An Avrami-Erofeev study

Abstract

It’s well known that the microstructure in the thermoset/thermoplastic blends is difficult to predict as it depends on many factors like compatibility, viscosity, crosslinking density. In this study, we investigated the relationship between polymerization kinetics and microstructure in bisphenol-A polycarbonate/diallyl phathalate (BAPC/DAP) blends via Avrami-Erofeev equation, which has been widely used to describe the phase transition in solid state. When the values of the exponent n in Avrami-Erofeev equation were greater than 1.73, between 1 and 1.73, and less than 1, the poly(DAP)-rich phases possessed fiber-like three-dimensional network with a relatively small diameter of ∼20 nm, partially connected nodule-like crosslinking structure, and perfect nodule-like three-dimensional network, separately. The results showed that Avrami-Erofeev method could be used to well correlate the polymerization kinetics with the final microstructure in reactive polymer blends.