| Abstract: | Blends containing two, wholly aromatic, naphthalene-based liquid crystalline polymers (LCPs) are studied. Experimental results show that the viscosities of the resulting blends are lower than the parent LCPs over the entire shear-rate range investigated. The orientation development following capillary flow demonstrates, that over a defined blend composition range, some blends have higher orientability than the constituent polymers. This is further manifested in the tensile and flexural properties of injection-molded specimens. A detailed analysis indicates that in the composition range where synergistic effects are observed in orientation development as well as in mechanical properties, only one glass transition temperature is detected. This suggests that “miscibility” is desirable for obtaining maximum properties in these blend systems. |
