CONTROL OF SURFACE ENERGETIC CHARACTER IN POLYMER BLENDS BY PHASE DECOMPOSITION

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Abstract
A mixture of poly (ether sulphone) (PES) and poly (ethylene oxide) (PEO) exhibits LCST (lower critical solution temperature) behavior; i.e., they are miscible at low temperatures but immiscible at high temperatures. Of this polymer-polymer pair, we prepared two series of blend specimens; one was a single-phase system and the other was a phase-decomposed one. The latter system was obtained by annealing the former at above LCST and rapid-quenching at below glass transition temperature.Surface tensions of the blends were estimated by measuring liquid contact angle. The phasedecomposed system showed higher surface tension than the single phase system. This difference was shown to be caused by the increase of polar and hydrogen bond components in surface tension with phase-decomposition. By Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy this phenomenon was ascribed to the dissociation of the hydrogen bonding type interaction between PES and PEO in the single phase system.

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