Miscibility and hydrogen bonding in blends of poly(vinyl acetate) with phenolic resin

The miscibility of phenolic resin and poly(vinyl acetate) (PVAc) blends was investigated by differential scanning calorimeter (DSC), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and solid state ¹³C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). This blend displays single glass transition temperature (T_g) over entire compositions indicating that this blend system is miscible in the amorphous phase due to the formation of hydrogen bonding between hydroxyl groups of phenolic resin and carbonyl groups of PVAc. Quantitative measurements on fraction of hydrogen-bonded carbonyl group using both ¹³C solid-state NMR and FT-IR analyses result in good agreement between these two spectroscopic techniques. According to the proton spin-lattice relaxation time in the rotating frame (T_1ρ^H), the phenolic/PVAc blend is intimately mixed on a scale less than 2-3 nm. Furthermore, the inter-association equilibrium constant and its related enthalpy of phenolic/PVAc blends were determined as a function of temperatures by infrared spectra based on the Painter-Coleman association model.