Poly(vinyl methyl ether)/Poly(methyl methacrylate) Blends Using Diblock Copolymer of Styrene and Methyl Methacrylate as Compatibilizer

Blends of poly(vinyl methyl ether) (PVME) and poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) compatibilized by poly(styrene-block-methyl methacrylate) (P(S-b-MMA)) are studied by FT-IR, DSC, excimer fluorescence spectrometry, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). In FT-IR measurement the ratio of absorption intensity at 1107 cm−1 to that at 1085 cm−1 (I1107/I1085) reaches a minimum at about 10 wt% block copolymer content. DSC results show that the glass transition temperature of PVME in the blends has a maximum at 10 wt% copolymer content. In plots of the ratio of excimer-to-monomer fluorescence emission intensities (IE/IM) vs block copolymer content, IE/IM increases rapidly above 10%. All these phenomena show that PS block chains penetrate into PVME domains on addition of block copolymer. Above 10% copolymer content, block copolymer chains tend to form micelles in bulk phase.