Blends of poly(carbonate) with poly(styrene) and poly(methylmethacrylate): phase morphology,mechanical, and thermal properties

This paper is concerned with the dependence of mechanical and thermal properties of heterogeneous blends of poly(carbonate) (PC) with poly(methyl-methacrylate) (PMMA) and with poly(styrene) (PS) on the concentration of the components. PS displays a very weak phase coupling in blends with PC, whereas PMMA is characterized by a strong coupling to PC. Experimental results as well as predictions based on composite theories are reported. The general finding is that mechanical properties, such as the tensile modulus and the dynamic shear modulus, as well as thermal properties, such as thermal expansion, are (i) only weakly affected by the occurrence of a phase inversion and of a continuous phase morphology, (ii) vary continuously with the concentration of the components, and (iii) are rather insensitive to the strength of the phase coupling. The theoretical predictions on the concentration—property relationship for these properties, based on a self-consistent approach, agree very well with those observed experimentally. The elongation at break as well as the yield stress, on the other hand, are strongly influenced by the nature of the phase coupling: a discontinuous variation of these properties with the composition is observed for PS/PC blends but not for PMMA/PC blends. The general conclusion is that a set of mechanical and thermal properties of heterogeneous blends can satisfactorily be predicted on the basis of rather simple composite theories.