Effect of Blend Composition on Scratch Behavior of Polystyrene/Poly(2,6‐dimethyl‐1,4‐phenyleneoxide) Blends

Abstract

The relationship between the scratch behavior and molecular aggregation states of polystyrene (PS), poly(2,6‐dimethyl‐1,4‐phenyleneoxide) (PPO), and their blends, is investigated based on differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), wide‐angle X‐ray diffraction (WAXD), polarized optical microscopy (POM), and indentation and scratch tests. DSC reveals that all the PS/PPO blends show the single glass transition temperature (Tg) and the Tg monotonically increase and Tg breadth exhibits a maximum, with an increase in PPO content. Furthermore, density and intermolecular chain distance obtained by WAXD exhibits maximum and minimum values at near 50 wt% of PPO, respectively. It is evident that densification occurs by blending PS and PPO. The scratch coefficient of friction (SCOF) value of PS is the largest and PS exhibits a fish‐scale pattern after scratch testing, while the SCOF value of PPO is much smaller than PS and PPO exhibits smooth groove formation. The PS50/PPO50 and PS20/PPO80 blends exhibit superior scratch and indentation resistance than PS and PPO. Damage morphology observation by POM and indentation tests reveals that molecular orientation is more restricted, and resistance against indentation increases for blends. This is due mainly to densification of the blend system.

Controllable Synthesis of Submicrometer Core–Shell Modifier and Its Effect on Toughening Polypheylene Ether/Polystyrene Blends

“…[ 1–8 ] Thus, to overcome these defects and add new properties, several studies have modified the PPE in various ways such as polymer blending with polystyrene (PS), nylon‐66 (PA‐66), nylon‐6 (PA‐6), polyethylene octene (POE), polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), or manufacturing high‐performance PPE alloy to improve the toughness of alloy material. [ 9–19 ]…”

“…[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] Thus, to overcome these defects and add new properties, several studies have modified the PPE in various ways such as polymer blending with polystyrene (PS), nylon-66 (PA-66), nylon-6 (PA-6), polyethylene octene (POE), polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), or manufacturing high-performance PPE alloy to improve the toughness of alloy material. [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19] Among various types of PPE alloys, PPE/PS alloy was first commercialized and played an important role in the history of polymer blends. The PPE and PS of lower melt viscosity are completely compatible systems that can be blended in any ratio to significantly improve the melt flow of PPE resin.…”

Rheological Properties of Blends of Isotactic Polystyrene–Isotactic Poly(para-methylstyrene) Films Derived from a Comparative Dewetting Study

“…Most previous dewetting experiments using a combination of polymers focused on double layers of two immiscible polymers. Only a few studies were based on blends of miscible or partially miscible polymers. ,,− Müller-Buschbaum et al , observed that blends of deuterated atactic polystyrene (dPS) and atactic poly­( para -methylstyrene) (aP p MS) were unstable. One component had an affinity for the substrate interface (dPS) and the other for the air interface (aP p MS), favoring phase separation into two layers.…”