Thermal analysis of poly(acrylic acid)/poly(oxyethylene) blends

Blends between poly(acrylic acid) and two different poly(oxyethylenes), (1) polyethylene glycol (PEG-1000) and (2) poly(oxyethylene) (20) sorbitan monooleate (Tween-80), were studied by differential scanning calorimetry. The glass transition temperatures, T_g, of the various compositions of these blends were found to follow Fox's equation. At room temperature, blends containing no more than 60% PEG-1000 were amorphous and exhibited only a single glass transition. For these blends with PEG-1000, the glass transition temperatures for the annealed samples were higher than for the quenched samples due to the formation of a PEG crystalline phase. It was also found that addition of an amorphous polymer such as poly(acrylic acid) significantly reduced the degree of crystallinity of a semicrystalline polymer such as poly(oxyethylene). The Tween-80 systems did not show phase separation at room temperature. The compatibility between this poly(acrylic acid) and this poly(oxyethylene) was attributed to hydrogen bonding and to the lower crystalline lattice energy of this poly(oxyethylene) through its effect on its ideal solution solubility. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.