Polymer, blends tactic poly

If there are more than two components in a mixture (as in a blend of a homopolymer with a copolymer), binary interaction parameters can be combined into a composite % parameter to describe the overall behavior of the system. For example, Choi and Jo [11] showed how the effects of copolymer sequence distribution in blends of polyethylene oxide) with poly(styrene-co-acrylic acid) can be described by an atomistic simulation approach to estimate the binary intermolecular interaction energies which are combined into a total interaction parameter for the blend. Their paper [11] also provides a list of the many preceding publications attempting to address the effects of copolymer composition, tacticity, and copolymer sequence distribution on polymer blend miscibility. In addition to the advances in computational hardware and software which have made atomistic simulations much faster and hence more accessible, work in recent years has significantly improved the accuracy of the force fields [12] used in such simulations. 

Tsuji (2002) conducted an investigation into the hydrolysis of an amorphous form of PLA, to determine the effects of L-lactide content, tacticity and enantiomeric polymer blends. In this work four samples were prepared—poly(D,L-lactide), poly(L-lactide), poly(D-lactide) film and the blend sample of poly(L-lactide) and poly(D-lactide). The results are sununa-rized in Table 7.4, which also covers a complementary study that explored the effects of hydrolysis in terms of molecular weight and its distribution, glass transition temperature, crystallization temperature, melting temperature and mechanical properties. 

Tsuji, H., 2002. Autocatalytic hydrolysis of amorphous-made poly-lactides effects of L-lactide content, tacticity, and enantiomeric polymer blending. Polymer 43, 1789—1796. 

Yoshie, N., Azuma, Y., Sakurai, M., and Inoue, Y., 1995, Crystallization and compatibility of poly(vinyl alcohol)/poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) blends influence of blend composition and tacticity of poly(vinyl alcohol). Appl. Polym. Sci. 56 17-24. 

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