ABSTRACT
78Poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) and poly(«-butyl methacrylate) (PnBMA) polymer blends were prepared via solution casting method. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) was used to determine the decomposition temperature and the thermal stability of the binary polymer blends. Decomposition temperatures (T d) of the polymer blends were estimated from the onset of the mass loss curves of TGA thermograms. Quantities T d of the blends increase when the content of PEO increases indicated that the blends were more thermally stable with higher content PEO. Thermal properties of PEO/PnBMA polymer blends were investigated by differential scanning calorimeter. The results of glass transition temperature (T g) and change of heat capacity (AC p) suggest that PEO and PnBMA are immiscible for entire blend composition. The crystallinity (X*) and melting temperature (T m) of the polymer blends were estimated. There is insignificant variation of T m of PEO in PEO/PnBMA blends, except for high content of PnBMA in the blends. This implied that these blends are immiscible under the experimental conditions agreed with results of Tg and ΔCp . The values ofX of PEO in the PEO/PnBMA blends do not deviate from the solid curve that marks the constancy of the crystallinity of PEO in blends. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy was used to study the intermolecular interaction between PEO and PnBMA and suggests that the crystalline region of PEO is not interrupted by the addition of PnBMA at high content of PEO, only dipole-dipole interaction between PEO and PnBMA.
