Effect of multiblock copolymers in polymer blends

✍ Scribed by Liane Häußler; Doris Pospiech; Kathrin Eckstein; Andreas Janke; Roland Vogel

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1997
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 792 KB
• Volume: 66
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0021-8995
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1097-4628(19971219)66:12<2293::aid-app11>3.0.co;2-1

✦ Synopsis

The use of multiblock copolymers for the compatibilization of immiscible polymer blends is controversially discussed in the literature. Investigations have been carried out to estimate the effect of multiblock copolymers containing segments of a liquid crystalline polyester (LCP) and polysulfone (PSU) segments in blends of the based homopolymers. One goal was to determine whether multiblock copolymers provide an opportunity for compatibilizing PSU/LCP blends. By using PSU/LCP multiblock copolymers with different molecular weights of the blocks in the appropriate binary, solution-casted blends, it was shown that the interpenetration of the polysulfone phase of the block copolymer and the PSU matrix leads to an improved miscibility of the blend. This effect is retained in ternary blends of PSU, LCP, and the multiblock copolymer, assuming a certain critical molecular weight of the multiblock copolymer segments. In addition, some mechanical characteristics of PSU/LCP melt blends such as the E-modulus and fracture strength are improved by adding long-segmented multiblock copolymers.