| Abstract: | Thermoplastic apparent interpenetrating polymer networks (thermoplastic‐AIPNs) were prepared at several compositions by melting and pressing of crystallizable polyurethane (CPU), based on butylene adipate glycol (BAG), and styrene/acrylic acid random copolymer (S/AA). Structure‐property relationships in the thermoplastic‐AIPNs were investigated by means of wide‐angle and small‐angle X‐ray scattering (WAXS, SAXS), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA), thermally stimulated depolarization currents (TSDC) techniques, dielectric relaxation spectroscopy (DRS) and several physico‐mechanical characterization techniques. The results obtained by the various techniques were critically compared to each other. They suggest that the two components show weak affinity to each other and that the thermoplastic‐AIPNs can be classified into two groups with high and low contents of CPU, showing essentially the behavior of CPU and S/AA, respectively. However, deviations from additivity and significant changes for several properties on addition of small amounts of either of the components suggest partial miscibility. Most of the results are explained by physical interactions of COOH‐groups of AA in S/AA with the ester groups of the flexible CPU blocks, which promote microphase separation in both the CPU and the S/AA components. |
