Compatibilization of polycarbonate and poly(vinylidene fluoride) blends studied by time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry and scanning electron microscopy

✍ Scribed by Feng, Jiyun; Weng, Lu-Tao; Li, Lin; Chan, Chi-Ming

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2000
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 483 KB
• Volume: 29
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0142-2421
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1096-9918(200002)29:2<168::aid-sia725>3.0.co;2-i

✦ Synopsis

The compatibilization of polycarbonate (PC) and poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) by poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) was elucidated in detail using time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Special PC/(PMMA/PVDF) sandwich-like samples were prepared for ToF-SIMS analysis. The ToF-SIMS results revealed that during the lamination of the PC and PMMA/PVDF sheets at high temperature, PMMA diffused from the PMMA/PVDF blend to the PC side. However, PC did not diffuse from the PC side to the PMMA/PVDF side. These results provided direct evidence to support that the improved interfacial adhesion of the PC/PVDF blend was due to PMMA and also indicated that PMMA may act as a compatibilizer for the PC/PVDF blends. A comparison of ToF-SIMS chemical images obtained from PC/PVDF (70/30) and PC/PMMA/PVDF (70/5/25) blends shows that the addition of PMMA greatly decreases the domain size of the PVDF phase and causes a homogeneous distribution of the PVDF phase. These results further confirmed the compatibilizing effect of PMMA on PC/PVDF blends. The effects of PMMA content and molecular weight on the morphology of PC/PMMA/PVDF blends were also studied and discussed.