Temperatures component glass transition

When the respective component glass transition temperatures are close, the blend Tg is not a useful measure of blend homogeneity. In fact, excess mixing volumes and specific interactions can cause anomalous behavior. The Tg of such a blend can be lower (as seen in polychloroprene/epoxidized polyisoprene blends (McGrath and Roland, 1994)) or higher (as seen in polylepichlorohydrin/polyvinylmethylether blends (Alegria et al., 1995)), than Tg of either neat component. In blends of polymers having nearly equivalent... 

Herrero and Acosta (80) investigated the microstmcture of poly(ethylene oxide)-poly[(octafluoropentoxy)(trifluoroethoxy)phosphazene] blends. Limited miscibility of both components was inferred, based on the observed shift of the components glass-transition temperatures. Wycisk and co-workers (81) prepared membranes from blends of sulfonated poly[bis(3-methylphenoxy)phosphazene] with polyimides, polyacrylonitrile, and Kynar FLEX PVDF. Morphology, electrochemical performance, and methanol permeabilities of the membranes were then evaluated as part of a program to investigate such blends in direct methanol fuel cells. The polymers were immiscible and a domain-type structure was observed. The best compatibility resulted when the tetrabutylammonium or sodium salt of the polyphosphazene was used (82). 

Several polymer blends that are commercial products in the industry are partially miscible. Partially miscible polymer blends are those that exhibit some shift from their pure component glass transition temperatures. Thus, a binary miscible polymer blend will exhibit one glass transition temperature and a partially miscible polymer blend will exhibit two distinct glass transition temperatures different from their pure component glass transition temperatures. Some experimental systems that have been reported as partially miscible polymer blends are PET and poly(hydroxy butyrate) (PHB) and PC/SAN. Later on, in a separate chapter, a mathematical framework... 

Steady-state fluorescence spectroscopy has been used by Torkelson et al. [43,44] to determine the components glass transition temperature (Tg) in various blends, including blends of PS with poly(tert-butyl acrylate) (PtBA), PMMA, and poly(w-butyl methacrylate) (PnBMA) [43], as well as in miscible blends of pyrene-labeled PMMA (MPy-labeled PMMA) with poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) or poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) over a broad composition range [44]. In the particular case of this latter study [44], the blend Tg-values were measured upon heating by increasing the... 

Evans, C.M. and Torkelson, J.M. (2012) Determining multiple component glass transition temperatures in miscible polymer blends Comparison of fluorescence spectroscopy and differential scanning calorimetry. Polymer, 53 (26), 6118-6124. 

Homogeneous alloys have a single glass transition temperature which is determined by the ratio of the components. The physical properties of these alloys are averages based on the composition of the alloy. 

Since successful commercialization of Kapton by Du Pont Company in the 1960s (10), numerous compositions of polyimide and various new methods of syntheses have been described in the Hterature (1—5). A successful result for each method depends on the nature of the chemical components involved in the system, including monomers, intermediates, solvents, and the polyimide products, as well as on physical conditions during the synthesis. Properties such as monomer reactivity and solubiHty, and the glass-transition temperature,T, crystallinity, T, and melt viscosity of the polyimide products ultimately determine the effectiveness of each process. Accordingly, proper selection of synthetic method is often critical for preparation of polyimides of a given chemical composition. 

Thermal Properties. Thermal properties include heat-deflection temperature (HDT), specific heat, continuous use temperature, thermal conductivity, coefficient of thermal expansion, and flammability ratings. Heat-deflection temperature is a measure of the minimum temperature that results in a specified deformation of a plastic beam under loads of 1.82 or 0.46 N/mm (264 or 67 psi, respectively). Eor an unreinforced plastic, this is typically ca 20°C below the glass-transition temperature, T, at which the molecular mobility is altered. Sometimes confused with HDT is the UL Thermal Index, which Underwriters Laboratories estabflshed as a safe continuous operation temperature for apparatus made of plastics (37). Typically, UL temperature indexes are significantly lower than HDTs. Specific heat and thermal conductivity relate to insulating properties. The coefficient of thermal expansion is an important component of mold shrinkage and must be considered when designing composite stmctures. 

The two-component urethane structural adhesives are among the most difficult to characterize, simply because of the widely varying properties that are possible. These adhesives may be rigid plastics similar in modulus to standard epoxy adhesives, with glass transition temperatures of the cured adhesive being approximately 60°C. 

Mixtures of monomers can be used to balance properties. This is possible due to the ease of copolymer formation via free-radical polymerization. The glass transition temperature of acrylic copolymers can be predicted from the weight fraction of the component monomers and the glass transition temperatures of the respective homopolymers [20]. Eq. 3 (commonly known as the Fox equation) is reported ... 

DSC helps in determining the glass-transition temperature, vulcanization, and oxidative stability. TG mainly is applied for the quantitative determination of major components of a polymer sample. TMA or DLTMA (dynamic load thermomechanical analysis) measures the elastic properties viz. modulus. 

Glass transition temperature (Tg), measured by means of dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) of E-plastomers has been measured in binary blends of iPP and E-plastomer. These studies indicate some depression in the Tg in the binary, but incompatible, blends compared to the Tg of the corresponding neat E-plastomer. This is attributed to thermally induced internal stress resulting from differential volume contraction of the two phases during cooling from the melt. The temperature dependence of the specific volume of the blend components was determined by PVT measurement of temperatures between 30°C and 270°C and extrapolated to the elastomer Tg at —50°C. 

Reactive compatibilization can also be accomplished by co-vulcanization at the interface of the component particles resulting in obliteration of phase boundary. For example, when cA-polybutadiene is blended with SBR (23.5% styrene), the two glass transition temperatures merge into one after vulcanization. Co-vulcanization may take place in two steps, namely generation of a block or graft copolymer during vulcanization at the phase interface and compatibilization of the components by thickening of the interface. However, this can only happen if the temperature of co-vulcanization is above the order-disorder transition and is between the upper and lower critical solution temperature (LCST) of the blend [20]. 

The all-important difference between the friction properties of elastomers and hard solids is its strong dependence on temperature and speed, demonstrating that these materials are not only elastic, but also have a strong viscous component. Both these aspects are important to achieve a high friction capability. The most obvious effect is that temperature and speed are related through the so-called WLF transformation. For simple systems with a well-defined glass transition temperature the transform is obeyed very accurately. Even for complex polymer blends the transform dominates the behavior deviations are quite small. 

Though both miscible and immiscible blends are composite materials, their properties are very different. A miscible blend will exhibit a single glass transition temperature that is intermediate between those of the individual polymers. In addition, the physical properties of the blends will also exhibit this intermediate behavior. Immiscible blends, on the other hand, still contain discrete phases of both polymers. This means that they have two glass transition temperatures and that each represents one of the two components of the blend. (A caveat must be added here in that two materials that are immiscible with very small domain sizes will also show a single, intermediate value for Tg.) In addition, the physical properties... 

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