Effects of polycarbonate molecular structure on the miscibility with other polymers

Abstract

An exploratory investigation of the equilibrium phase behavior of binary blends of various polycarbonates with polystyrene (PS), poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), bisphenol A polycarbonate (BPA-PC), and tetramethylbisphenol A polycarbonate (TMPC) is described. The variations in polycarbonate structure primarily involved substitutions onto the phenyl rings in two or four of the available positions and changing the connector group between the two phenyl rings, or both, of the bisphenol monomer. Polar connector groups promote favorable interactions with PMMA while ring substitution with methyl groups improves miscibility with PS. Other structural changes in the connector group or on the phenyl rings can act against the miscibility of polycarbonates with PMMA or PS. A wide range of polycarbonates was found to be miscible with BPA-PC and TMPC. The effect of PMMA and PS molecular weight on the miscibility of blends with selected polycarbonates wets used to obtain more detailed information about their interactions. The use of this information to design useful polymer blends is discussed.

Novel Miscible Blends Composed of Poly(Methyl Methacrylate) and 2,2-Bis(3,4-Carboxyphenyl)Hexafluoropropane Dianhydride-Based Polyimides with Optical Grade Clarity

“…Since blends having less favorable energetic interaction exhibit lower LCST, these results indicate that a 7/3 proportion might have the least favorable interaction for the blends of PMMA with 6FDA-6FpDA polyimides. 10,24,35) The phase separation temperature of the 6FDA-6FpDA/PMMA blend was always higher than that of the 6FDA-6FpDA:DABA/ PMMA blend when blend composition was fixed. It was known that the presence of the DABA groups in polyimide facilitated intermolecular hydrogen bonding with adjacent chains.…”

“…Note that the samples were measured in accordance with ASTM D1003. 24) The path length for the test samples was 2 mm thick and that the samples were polished to reduce any surface imperfections resulting from molding that would otherwise increase the light scattering behavior. Figure 7 clearly shows that the transmittances of the PMMA/6FDA-6FpDA blend films were above 85% over the visual spectrum, indicating that the optical transparency of the films is not reduced when the blend system is miscible.…”

“…However, the color of PC changes when exposed to ultraviolet radiations and PC/ PMMA blends have a relatively low phase separation temperature (approximately 120 C); these features limit their widespread application. 23,24) This work examines blends of PMMA with 6FDA-based polyimides to develop miscible blends that overcome the drawbacks of PMMA and have optical-grade clarity. [4][5][6][7] The miscibility of polymer blends is often judged from specimens prepared by melt blending or solution casting methods.…”

Reactive compatibilization of PC/PVDF polymer blends by zinc carboxylate containing poly(methylmethacrylate) ionomers

“…Previous study on the PC/PMMA pair concluded that phenyl rings of PC favorably interact with the carbonyl groups of PMMA [4][5]. Effort was made to strengthen these interactions either by changing the molecular structure of PC [6][7] or by copolymerizing MMA with suitable comonomers [8][9], e.g. acrylic acid.…”

Miscibility of polymer blends of poly(styrene-co-4-hydroxystyrene) with bisphenol-A polycarbonate

“…9,10,17 Paul and coworkers studied a series of modified BAPC structures blended with PS or its copolymers. 18 They found that among these structures, where modification included ring substitution or substitution between two phenyls of BAPC with various polar connector groups or methyl groups, only the tetramethyl bisphenol-A polycarbonate (TMPC) was miscible with PS. Recently, Lu and Weiss reported 19 that BAPC was miscible with a slightly sulfonated PS (SPS) over a range of 10.1-11.3 mol % of sulfonation, and the driving force for the miscibility of the blend was attributed to the intramolecular repulsive interaction.…”