Viscoelastic behavior, order‐disorder transition, and phase equilibria in mixtures of a block copolymer and an endblock‐associating resin

Abstract

AbstractThe viscoelastic behavior, order‐disorder transition, and phase equilibria in mixtures of a block copolymer and an endblock‐associating resin were investigated. The block copolymer was a polystyrene‐block‐polyisoprene‐block‐polystyrene (KRATON® D‐1107, Shell Development Co.) copolymer. The endblock‐associating resins investigated were two different grades of a commercially available random copolymer of poly(α‐methyl styrene) and polystyrene, one with a weight‐average molecular weight \[\bar M_{\rm w}\] of 710 (KRISTALEX® 3085, Hercules Inc.) and the other with \[\bar M_{\rm w}\] = 4100 (KRISTALEX® 5140, Hercules Inc.). Mixtures of various proportions of the block copolymer and the endblock‐associating resin were prepared in toluene solvent. With the mixtures, measurements of dynamic viscoelastic properties were made, namely, dynamic storage modulus G″ and dynamic loss modulus G″ as a function of temperature from temperature scans of the samples using a Rheometrics Mechanical Spectrometer. The following observations were made. (1) The plateau modulus of the block copolymer increased with increasing amount of KRISTALEX 3085 or KRISTALEX 5140, indicating that the low‐molecular‐weight resin was associated with the polystyrene microdomains of the block copolymer. (2) When KRISTALEX 3085 (up to 30 wt %) was added to the block copolymer, the glass transition temperature (Tg) of the polyisoprene midblock of the SIS block copolymer was shifted toward higher temperatures, indicating that part of the KRISTALEX 3085 added had associated with the rubbery midblock of the block copolymer. Also investigated was the order‐disorder transition behavior of the mixtures, using a rheological technique (log G′ versus log G″ plots) recently introduced by Han and Kim. It has been found that the order‐disorder transition temperature Tr of mixtures of the SIS block copolymer and KRISTALEX 3085 decreased steadily with increasing amount of KRISTALEX 3085, whereas the addition of KRISTALEX 5140 increased the Tr of the block copolymer. It was found by light scattering and hot‐stage microscopy that macrophase separation occurred in the KRATON 1107/KRISTALEX 5140 mixtures while microdomains of polystyrene were present in the block copolymer.