Polystyrene lifetime determination

It is evident from the above discussion that the free volume data derived from positron lifetime measurements is incapable of providing information on the composition-dependent miscibility level of the blend. At this point, a new method based on the same free volume data measured from positron lifetime measurements was introduced to determine the miscibility of binary blends. The new method was based on hydrodynamic interactions (the mathematics required have been explained in detail earlier), and calculations of the y parameter derived from the hydrodynamic interaction approach were made for three selected polymer blends, namely poly(styrene-co-acrylonitrile) (SAN)/poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) (completely miscible), poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC)/poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) (partially miscible) and poly(vinylchloride) (PVC)/polystyrene (PS) (immiscible) (see Figure 27.13). As can be seen, this parameter behaves similar to the interchain interaction parameter /3, in the sense that it exhibits a complex behavior making it difficult to determine the composition-dependent miscibility of the blends. 

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