Miscibility in crystalline/amorphous blends of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate)/DGEBA

LEONEL SILVA; SEBASTIAN TOGNANA; WALTER SALGUEIRO

Journal of Polymer Science Part B: Polymer Physics

John Wiley & Sons Inc

Lugar: New York; Año: 2013 vol. 51 p. 680 - 686

1099-0488

A differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and smallangle X-ray scattering (SAXS) study of miscibility in blends of the semicrystalline polyester poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) and amorphous monomer epoxy DGEBA (diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A) was performed. Evidence of the miscibility of PHB/DGEBA in the molten state was found from a DSC study of the dependence of glass transition temperature (Tg) as a function of the blend composition and isothermal crystallization, analyzing the melting point (Tm) as a function of blend composition. A negative value of Flory?Huggins interaction parameter vPD was obtained. Furthermore, the lamellar crystallinity in the blend was studied by SAXS as a function of the PHB content. Evidence of the segregation of the amorphous material out of the lamellar structure was obtained.