Morphologies, structures, and properties on blends of triblock copolymers and linear low-density polyethylene

Ying Wang; Shangfeng Wu; Li-Zhi Liu; Hao Chen; Yuanxia Wang; Lixin Song; Ying Shi

doi:10.1515/polyeng-2023-0167

Article

Morphologies, structures, and properties on blends of triblock copolymers and linear low-density polyethylene

Ying Wang , Shangfeng Wu , Li-Zhi Liu , Hao Chen , Yuanxia Wang , Lixin Song and Ying Shi

Published/Copyright: December 11, 2023

Published by

Become an author with De Gruyter Brill

Submit Manuscript Author Information

From the journal Journal of Polymer Engineering Volume 44 Issue 1

Abstract

Focusing on the study of the phase separation behavior of triblock copolymer and linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) systems helps to understand the influence of microstructure on the properties of poly(vinylcyclohexane)-b- poly(ethylene)-b-poly(vinylcyclohexane) (PVCH-PE-PVCH/LLDPE) blends. We prepared a series of blends of LLDPE and PVCH-PE-PVCH and explained their compatibility from the microstructure. The research findings indicate that despite having similar block compositions, PVCH-PE-PVCH with a higher molecular weight exhibits significantly stronger phase separation and crystallization ability compared to PVCH-PE-PVCH with lower molecular weight. In PVCH-PE-PVCH/LLDPE blends, the addition of 10 %, 20 %, and 30 % LLDPE induces earlier crystallization and crystal phase separation of polyethylene (PE) fragments. In addition, compared to the lower molecular weight of PVCH-PE-PVCH, the higher molecular weight of PVCH-PE-PVCH exhibits a higher tendency for independent crystallization and shows significant crystal phase separation during the cooling crystallization process when blended with LLDPE. The PE segments in the lower molecular weight of PVCH-PE-PVCH can more easily enter the nanoscale domain of LLDPE. Impact fracture electron microscopy also reveals better compatibility between the lower molecular weight of PVCH-PE-PVCH and LLDPE compared to the higher molecular weight of PVCH-PE-PVCH. Furthermore, the blends of lower molecular weight of PVCH-PE-PVCH and LLDPE exhibit a greater growth rate in elongation at break.

Keywords: triblock copolymer; phase separation behavior; molecular weight; compatibility

Corresponding author: Ying Shi, Polymer High Functional Film Engineering Research Center of Liaoning Province, Shenyang University of Chemical Technology, Shenyang 110142, China; and Research and Development, Dongguan HAILI Chemical Material Co., Ltd., Dongguan 523000, China, E-mail: shiying86@aliyun.com

Funding source: Liaoning climbing scholar program

Acknowledgments

Synchrotron SAXS experiments were performed on Beamline 1W2A at the Beijing Synchrotron Radiation Facility. The authors are grateful for the assistance of the beamline scientists at BSRF and SSRF, especially Zhihong Li and Guang Mo.

Research ethics: I certify that this manuscript is original and has not been published and will not be submitted elsewhere for publication while being considered by Journal of polymer engineering. And the study is not split up into several parts to increase the quantity of submissions and submitted to various journals or to one journal over time. No data have been fabricated or manipulated (including images) to support conclusions. This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.
Author contribution: Ying Wang: Methodology, Data curation, Writing-Original draft preparation. Shangfeng Wu and Hao Chen: Validation. Yuanxia Wang and Lixin Song: Data curation. Li-Zhi Liu: Supervision, Funding acquisition, Conceptualization Ideas. Ying Shi: Conceptualization Ideas, Methodology, Writing-Review & Editing, Project administration, Resources.
Competing interests: The authors declare there is no potential conflict of interest or competing interests.
Research funding: This work is supported by a Liaoning climbing scholar program.
Data availability: The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

References

1. Araneda, E., Leiva, A., Gargallo, L., Hadjichristidis, N., Mondragon, I., Radic, D. Crystallization behavior of PEO in blends of poly(ethylene oxide)/poly(2-vinyl pyridine)-b-(ethylene oxide) block copolymer. Polym. Eng. Sci. 2012, 52, 1128–1136; https://doi.org/10.1002/pen.22183.Search in Google Scholar

2. Li, Z., Chen, M., Ma, W. Promoting effect of crystallization on the foaming behavior in polypropylene homopolymer/polypropylene block copolymer blends. Polym. Eng. Sci. 2016, 56, 1175–1181; https://doi.org/10.1002/pen.24351.Search in Google Scholar

3. Gondo, S., Osawa, S., Sakurai, T., Nojima, S. Crystallization of double crystalline block copolymer/crystalline homopolymer blends: 1. Crystalline morphology. Polym 2013, 54, 6768–6775; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polymer.2013.10.021.Search in Google Scholar

4. Laurer, J. H., Bukovnik, R., Spontak, R. J. Morphological characteristics of SEBS thermoplastic elastomer gels. Macromolecules 1996, 29, 5760–5762; https://doi.org/10.1021/ma9607271.Search in Google Scholar

5. Ojeda, T., Liberman, S., Amorim, R., Samios, D. Propylene-ethylene copolymers: ethylene content influence on molecular and thermomechanical properties. J. Polym. Eng. 1996, 16, 105–120; https://doi.org/10.1515/polyeng.1996.16.1-2.105.Search in Google Scholar

6. Chen, H. L., Hsiao, S. C., Lin, T. L., Yamauchi, K., Hasegawa, H., Hashimoto, T. Microdomain-tailored crystallization kinetics of block copolymers. Macromolecules 2001, 34, 671–674; https://doi.org/10.1021/ma001485e.Search in Google Scholar

7. Yu, P. Q., Xie, X. M., Wang, T., Bates, F. S. Investigation of crystallization of PVCH-PE-PVCH triblock copolymer in supercritical carbon dioxide. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2006, 102, 2584–2589; https://doi.org/10.1002/app.24695.Search in Google Scholar

8. Seyni, F. I., Barrett, L., Crossley, S., Grady, B. P. Polystyrene and poly (methyl methacrylate) interfaces reinforced with diblock carbon nanotubes. Polym. Eng. Sci. 2021, 61, 1186–1194; https://doi.org/10.1002/pen.25665.Search in Google Scholar

9. Velasquez, E., Oliva, H., Müller, A. J., López, J. V., Vega, J., Meira, G. R., Wambach, M. Instability of styrene/polystyrene/polybutadiene/polystyrene-b-polybutadiene emulsions that emulate styrene polymerization in the presence of polybutadiene. Polym. Eng. Sci. 2013, 53, 1886–1900; https://doi.org/10.1002/pen.23450.Search in Google Scholar

10. Krishnan, R., Puri, S. Molecular dynamics study of phase separation in fluids with chemical reactions. Phys. Rev. E 2015, 92, 052316; https://doi.org/10.1103/physreve.92.052316.Search in Google Scholar

11. Ibarboure, E., Bousquet, A., Toquer, G., Papon, E., Rodriguez-Hernandez, J. Tunable hierarchical assembly on polymer surfaces: combining microphase and macrophase separation in copolymer/homopolymer blends. Langmuir 2008, 24, 6391–6394; https://doi.org/10.1021/la800404e.Search in Google Scholar PubMed

12. Nojima, S., Kuroda, M., Sasaki, S. Morphological study on binary blends of poly (ε-caprolactone)-block-polybutadiene and poly (ε-caprolactone). Polym. J. 1997, 29, 642–648; https://doi.org/10.1295/polymj.29.642.Search in Google Scholar

13. Yu, P. Q., Yan, L. T., Chen, N., Xie, X. M. Confined crystallization behaviors and phase morphologies of PVCH-PE-PVCH/PE homopolymer blends. Polymer 2012, 53, 4727–4736; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polymer.2012.08.038.Search in Google Scholar

14. Gao, Y., Liu, H. Crystallization behavior of dry-brush PEO-PS block copolymer and PEO homopolymer blend. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2007, 106, 2718–2723; https://doi.org/10.1002/app.26812.Search in Google Scholar

15. Adedeji, A., Jamieson, A. M., Hudson, S. D. Microphase vs. macrophase formation in homopolymer/block copolymer blends with exothermic interaction. Polymer 1995, 36, 2753–2760; https://doi.org/10.1016/0032-3861(95)93653-4.Search in Google Scholar

16. Chen, N., Yan, L. T., Xie, X. M. Interplay between crystallization and phase separation in PS-b-PMMA/PEO blends: the effect of confinement. Macromolecules 2013, 46, 3544–3553; https://doi.org/10.1021/ma4005692.Search in Google Scholar

17. Salim, N. V., Hanley, T., Guo, Q. Microphase separation through competitive hydrogen bonding in double crystalline diblock copolymer/homopolymer blends. Macromolecules 2010, 43, 7695–7704; https://doi.org/10.1021/ma101199w.Search in Google Scholar

18. Palanisamy, A., Salim, N. V., Fox, B. L., Jyotishkumar, P., Pradeep, T., Hameed, N. A facile method to fabricate carbon nanostructures via the self-assembly of polyacrylonitrile/poly (methyl methacrylate-b-polyacrylonitrile) AB/B′ type block copolymer/homopolymer blends. RSC Adv. 2016, 6, 55792–55799; https://doi.org/10.1039/c6ra09823a.Search in Google Scholar

19. Li, J. G., Lin, Y. D., Kuo, S. W. From microphase separation to self-organized mesoporous phenolic resin through competitive hydrogen bonding with double-crystalline diblock copolymers of poly (ethylene oxide-b-ε-caprolactone). Macromolecules 2011, 44, 9295–9309; https://doi.org/10.1021/ma2010734.Search in Google Scholar

20. Shao, W., Liu, L. Z., Liu, C., Wang, Y., Hua, X., He, Y., Shi, Y. Thermodynamic behavior and crystal structure of polypropylene treated with supercritical carbon dioxide. J. Polym. Eng. 2022, 42, 915–923; https://doi.org/10.1515/polyeng-2022-0049.Search in Google Scholar

21. Helfand, E. Block copolymer theory. III. Statistical mechanics of the microdomain structure. Macromolecules 1975, 8, 552–556; https://doi.org/10.1021/ma60046a032.Search in Google Scholar

22. Leibler, L. Theory of microphase separation in block copolymers. Macromolecules 1980, 13, 1602–1617; https://doi.org/10.1021/ma60078a047.Search in Google Scholar

23. Matsen, M. W., Bates, F. S. Unifying weak-and strong-segregation block copolymer theories. Macromolecules 1996, 29, 1091–1098; https://doi.org/10.1021/ma951138i.Search in Google Scholar

24. Loo, Y. L., Register, R. A., Ryan, A. J., Dee, G. T. Polymer crystallization confined in one, two, or three dimensions. Macromolecules 2001, 34, 8968–8977; https://doi.org/10.1021/ma011521p.Search in Google Scholar

25. Prahsarn, C., Jamieson, A. M. Morphological studies of binary homopolymer/block copolymer blends: effect of molecular weight. Polymer 1997, 38, 1273–1283; https://doi.org/10.1016/s0032-3861(96)00639-8.Search in Google Scholar

26. Kim, Y., Mun, J., Yu, G., Char, K. Phase transition of block copolymer/homopolymer binary blends under 2D confinement. Macromol. Res. 2017, 25, 656–661; https://doi.org/10.1007/s13233-017-5128-3.Search in Google Scholar

27. Gumede, T. P., Luyt, A. S., Pérez‐Camargo, R. A., Iturrospe, A., Arbe, A., Zubitur, M., Mugica, A., Müller, A. J. Plasticization and cocrystallization in LLDPE/wax blends. J. Polym. Sci. Pol. Phys. 2016, 54, 1469–1482; https://doi.org/10.1002/polb.24039.Search in Google Scholar

28. Celli, A., Marchese, P. Crystallization of poly (ethylene terephthalate) in poly (ethylene terephthalate)/bisphenol A polycarbonate block copolymers: influence of block length and role of the rubbery amorphous component. Macromol. Chem. Phys. 2004, 205, 2486–2495; https://doi.org/10.1002/macp.200400243.Search in Google Scholar

Received: 2023-07-14

Accepted: 2023-11-10

Published Online: 2023-12-11

Published in Print: 2024-01-29

You are currently not able to access this content.

Articles in the same Issue

https://doi.org/10.1515/polyeng-2023-0167

Keywords for this article

triblock copolymer; phase separation behavior; molecular weight; compatibility