Effect of the repeated unit length of guest polymers on the molecular motion of polymer blends within a miscible window

The effect of the repeated unit length on the substantially increasing molecular motion and entropy change (?TΔS_m) of polymer blends was investigated with solid‐state ¹³C NMR and differential scanning calorimetry within a miscible window. The hydrogen‐bonding strength, from the formation of the phenolic–polyester interaction, was not high enough to overcome the breaking‐off of the self‐association of the phenolic. With respect to the increasing repeated unit length, the polyester resonance intensity of the solid‐state ¹³C NMR spectra was weakened because of the reduction in the cross‐polarization efficiency in highly mobile samples. The glass‐transition temperature of the blend and the proton spin–lattice relaxation time from NMR experiments were also reduced. The effect of the reduced hydrogen‐bonding strength on blending brought about a tendency of higher entropy (?TΔS_m) and higher molecular mobility of the blend. Accordingly, poly(decamethylene adipate) possessed the longest repeated unit length and exhibited the most mobile one in this phenolic/polyester blend family. The molecular segmental motion and entropy progressively increased while the repeated unit length of the guest polymers increased within a miscible window. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 41: 679–686, 2003