Study of the miscibility of poly(styrene-co-4-vinylbenzoic acid) with poly(ethyl methacrylate) or with poly[ethyl methacrylate-co-(2-N,N-dimethylaminoethyl) methacrylate] by inverse gas chromatography

Poly(styrene) is immiscible with poly(ethyl methacrylate). The introduction of a small amount of 4-vinylbenzoic acid units along poly(styrene) chains (PS-VBA) enhanced its miscibility with poly(ethyl methacrylate) (PEMA) or with polyethyl methacrylate-co-(2-N,N-dimethylaminoethyl) methacrylate] (PEMA-DAE), as observed from the appearance of a single composition dependent glass transition temperature for each binary system using inverse gas chromatography. The negative values of the apparent polymer-polymer interaction parameter, chi(23)app, determined with different families of molecular probes, for three blend compositions and over a range of temperature confirm quantitatively the miscibility of these blends. The chi(23)app values for PEMA(PS-VBA) and (PEMA-DAE)-(PS-VBA) blends are dependent of the chemical nature of the probes, the temperature and the blend composition.