An Unusual, Completely Miscible, Ternary Hydrogen-Bonded Polymer Blend of Phenoxy, Phenolic, and PCL

Abstract

We have investigated the miscibility and hydrogen-bonding behavior of ternary blends of phenoxy, phenolic, and poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) by using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. On the basis of DSC analyses, we observed a rare totally miscible ternary hydrogen-bonded polymer blend in the amorphous phase: all compositions of this ternary blend display a single glass transition temperature. In addition, these single glass transition temperatures can be predicted well by extending the Kwei equation from the binary polymer blend to this ternary polymer blend. The infrared spectra indicate that the intermolecular hydrogen bonding of each pair of binary components still exists in the ternary polymer blend. We used the ternary totally miscible blend to determine the interassociation equilibrium constant between the hydroxyl groups of phenolic and the hydroxyl groups of phenoxy indirectly from the fraction of hydrogen-bonded carbonyl groups of PCL. Quantitative analyses suggest that interassociation between the hydroxyl groups of phenolic and the hydroxyl groups of phenoxy is more favorable than the hydroxyl−carbonyl interassociations of either phenolic/PCL or phenoxy/PCL and the hydroxyl−hydroxyl self-association of the pure phenolic and phenoxy homopolymers at room temperature.

Properties of composite membranes based on sulfonated poly(ether ether ketone)s (SPEEK)/phenoxy resin (PHR) for direct methanol fuel cells usages

“…TGA results provided information about the improvement in the PHR thermal stability as a result of the incorporation of the PHR molecules into the clusters of SPEEK. The restriction of the cluster's mobility caused by the intermolecular interaction between SPEEK and PHR seems to contribute to the higher thermal stability of the composite membranes in high temperatures than that without interaction [16,25]. Although the addition of PHR in the SPEEK caused the membrane to decompose at about 250 • C and made it less stable above 250 • C temperature, the thermal stability of the membrane is good enough to serve as a proton exchange membrane in a DMFC.…”

“…Phenoxy resin is an important class of tough and ductile thermoplastic materials, which is not soluble in water and presents high -OH group concentration in their structures. It has been repeatedly verified the ability of forming miscible blends with a variety of other polymers, such as polyesters, polysulfones, polyamide, poly(butylene terephthalate) or polycarbonates [24][25][26], because of its good impact resistance and a good compatibility with polar materials and fillers. Phenoxy resin also is an important material in the field of structural adhesives.…”

“…Phenoxy resin also is an important material in the field of structural adhesives. Related investigations have also shown its feasibility of promoting blends of incompatible resins, acting as compatibilizers [25,27]. The PHR is selected because of the possibility of forming the intermolecular hydrogen bond between the sulfonated acid groups of the SPEEK and the hydroxyl groups of PHR.…”

DNA-like interactions enhance the miscibility of supramolecular polymer blends

“…Likewise, we determined that the self-association equilibrium constant (K B ) of adenine was 32, after dividing the value of K b of 3 M À1 for the model compound 2-ethyladenine by the molar volume of the VBA repeat unit [22]. To minimize errors, we ignored the self-association of T groups because the T-T interaction is almost the same strength as the A-A interaction [22]; furthermore, two self-associating, hydrogen-bonded donor polymer blend systems would make analysis of the binary blend system too complicated [47,48].…”

Miscibility Enhancement on the Immiscible Binary Blend of Poly(vinyl phenol) and Poly(acetoxystyrene) with Poly(ethylene oxide)

“…Classical examples are the ternary blends of PVDF/PMMA/PEMA, [3] poly(vinyl phenol) (PVPh)/PMMA/PEMA, [4] and SAN/PMMA/ PEMA. [5] The second category is that when all three binary pairs are individually miscible, a completely homogeneous has been observed such as PECH/PMMA/poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO), [6] PVDF/PVAc/PMMA, [7] phenolic/phenoxy/PCL [8] and PHB/PEO/PECH, [9] PAEK/PEEK/PEI, [10] PEI/PET/PBT, [11] and PCL/PBzBA/PphMA. [12] The third category is a closed immiscibility loop phase diagram that is observed when all three binary pairs are also individually miscible.…”