Crystalline-amorphous interaction in relation to the phase diagrams of binary polymer blends containing a crystalline constituent

The present article describes an equilibrium theory for determining binary phase diagrams of various crystalline-amorphous polymer blends by taking into account the contributions from both liquid-liquid phase separation between the constituents and solid-liquid phase transition of the crystalline component. An analytical expression for determining a crystal-amorphous interaction parameter is deduced based on the solid-liquid transition, involving the solidus and liquidus lines in conjunction with the coexistence curve of an upper critical solution temperature type. Of particular importance is that the crystalline-amorphous interaction parameter can be determined directly from the melting point depression data. The present analysis is therefore different from the conventional Flory-Huggins interaction parameter, which is associated with the liquid-liquid phase separation. The validity of the present theory is tested with the experimental phase diagrams of blends of poly(ethylene oxide)/diacrylate and poly(vinyl alcohol)/cellulose.