To explore the effects of intramolecular interactions within the copolymer on the phase separation behavior of polymer blends, copolymers having two different types of intramolecular interactions, i.e., intramolecular repulsion and intramolecular attraction were prepared. In this study, poly(styrene-co-methylmethacrylate) (P(S-MMA)) having intramolecular repulsion caused by positive interaction between styrene and MMA and poly(styrene-co-ethylmethacrylate) (P(S-EMA)) and poly(styrene-co-cyclohexylmethacrylate) (P(S-CHMA)) having intramolecular attraction caused by negative interaction between styrene and methacrylate were blended with tetramethyl polycarbonate (TMPC). The phase behavior of blends was examined as a function of copolymer composition and blend composition. TMPC formed miscible blends with styrenic copolymers containing less than certain amount of methacrylate. The phase separation temperature of TMPC blends with copolymer such as P(S-MMA) and P(S-EMA), first increases with methacrylate content, goes through a maximum and then decreases just prior to the limiting content of methacrylate for miscibility, while that of TMPC blends with P(S-CHMA) always decreases. The calculated interaction energy for TMPC-P(S-EMA) pair is negative and monotonically increases with EMA content of the copolymer. Such behavior contradicted the general notion that systems with more favorable energetic interactions have higher LCST. The detailed inspection of the lattice-fluid theory related to the phase behavior was performed to explain such behavior.

No abstract

The miscibility of tetramethylpolycarbonate (TMPC) blends with styrenic copolymers containing various methacrylates was examined, and the interaction energies between TMPC and methacrylate were evaluated from the phase‐separation temperatures of TMPC/copolymer blends with lattice‐fluid theory combined with a binary interaction model. TMPC formed miscible blends with styrenic copolymers containing less than a certain amount of methacrylate, and these miscible blends always exhibited lower critical solution temperature (LCST)‐type phase behavior. The phase‐separation temperatures of TMPC blends with copolymers such as poly(styrene‐co‐methyl methacrylate), poly(styrene‐co‐ethyl methacrylate), poly(styrene‐co‐n‐propyl methacrylate), and poly(styrene‐co‐phenyl methacrylate) increase with methacrylate content, go through a maximum, and decrease, whereas those of TMPC blends with poly(styrene‐co‐n‐butyl methacrylate) and poly(styrene‐co‐cyclohexyl methacrylate) always decrease. The calculated interaction energy for a copolymer–TMPC pair is negative and increases with the methacrylate content in the copolymer. This would seem to contradict the prediction of the binary interaction model, that systems with more favorable energetic interactions have higher LCSTs. A detailed inspection of lattice‐fluid theory was performed to explain such phase behavior. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 40: 1288–1297, 2002