| Abstract: | Blends of diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A (DGEBA) and poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) were prepared by solution casting from 1,1,2,2-tetrachloroethane. The miscibility and interchange reactions in DGEBA–PET blends were studied by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and optical microscopy. PET was found to be miscible with DGEBA, as revealed by the existence of a single composition-dependence glass transition temperature (Tg). Interchange reactions between DGEBA and PET components in the blends at elevated temperatures were proven by appearance of the enhanced glass transition temperatures and the marked decrease in the crystallinity of PET. These results are attributed to the formation of copolymers based on the blend components due to interchange reactions. The morphological observations confirmed that there existed interchange reactions between DGEBA and PET. There also existed a self-crosslinking reaction among the DGEBA molecules. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 73: 639–647, 1999 |
