| Abstract: | Polystyrene (PS) and poly(vinylmethylether) (PVME) were used to study the orientation of miscible and immiscible polymer blends. A miscible blend containing 60 wt% PS was prepared by casting the sample from a benzene solution. The immiscible blend was made by annealing the initially miscible mixture above its lower critical solution temperature for different times and temperatures. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and birefringence were used to measure the orientation of PS and PVME, before and after phase separation. Stress-strain curves were also measured for the two types of systems. It was found that the two polymers orient differently and that phase separation induces an increase in the overall orientation of the mixture, in the modulus and in PS orientation. The differences observed between pure PS and PS in the blend were attributed to changes in specific interactions and density of entanglements. The variations with phase separation were attributed to a change in the morphology of the system. |
