Effects of sodium concentration on the morphology and rheological behaviour of alkoxide-carboxylate co-ionomeric mixtures of phenoxy and ethylene terpolymers

Mixtures at various weight ratios of phenoxy (PH) and a terpolymer of ethylene tert. butyl acrylate-acrylic acid (EAA) were prepared in a Brabender Plasticorder in the presence of different amounts of sodium ethoxide (NaOEt). The mixtures were examined by SEM, DSC, and dynamic rheometry.While the crystallisation characteristics of EAA were affected only to a small extent by the addition of NAOEt, the corresponding mixtures with phenoxy acquired an increasingly more pronounced amorphous nature by increasing the concentration of NaOEt.SEM examinations revealed that the morphology of the mixtures became more homogeneous when NaOEt was present. This was manifested also by a change from dual relaxations to single relaxations in the Cole-Cole plots of the rheological data.