Abstract
Differential scanning calorimetry, dynamic mechanical measurements, and thermal gravimetric analysis techniques have been used to thermally characterize blends of poly(etherether ketone)βthermotropic liquid crystalline polymer (LCP) based on hydroxybenzoic and hydroxynaphthoic acid (HBA/HNA). Based upon differential scanning calorimetry and dynamic mechanical measurements, these blends have been shown to be incompatible in the entire range of concentration. For these blends the glass transition temperature of both components does not change much with composition. Dynamic mechanical measurements performed under torsional and flexural modes of testing and different samples geometries indicate that the dynamic properties depend a lot on the above two factors. Anisotropy in these blends was studied by performing dynamic measurements in flow and transverse directions. The effect of orientation is found to be predominant. Dynamic mechanical properties tend to improve in the flow direction, whereas in the transverse direction they are found to decrease with increasing LCP concentration.