Miscibility and crystallization behavior of biodegradable poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate)/phenolic blends

Poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV)/phenolic blends are new miscible crystalline/amorphous polymer blends prepared via solution casting method in this work, as evidenced by the single composition dependent glass transition temperature. The measured Tgs can be well fitted by the Kwei equation with a q value of 13.6 for the PHBV/phenolic blends, indicating that the interaction between the two components is strong. The negative polymerpolymer interaction parameter, obtained from the melting depression of PHBV using the Nishi-Wang equation, indicating the thermal miscibility of PHBV and phenolic. The spherulitic morphology and crystal structure of PHBV/phenolic blends were studied with polar optical microscopy and wide angle X-ray diffraction compared with those of neat PHBV. It is found that the growth rates of PHBV in the blends are lower than that in neat PHBV at a given crystallization temperature, and the crystal structure of PHBV is not modified by the presence of phenolic in the PHBV/phenolic blends, but the crystallinity decrease with the increasing of phenolic. (c) 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2012