STUDIES ON BLEND OF LIQUID-CRYSTALLINE AND FLEXIBLE POLYMERS .2. BLEND OF LIQUID-CRYSTALLINE AND FLEXIBLE POLYESTERS

Aromatic homo- and co-polyesters as minor components were melt blended with a liquid crystalline co-polyester (LCP) of 60 mol% of p-hydroxybenzoic acid (PHB) and 40 mol% of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) to improve the mechanical properties of LCP. Miner components blended were PET, co-polyesters of PET/PHB = 95/5 (HB05), and PET/PHB = 70/30 (HB30), all of which are flexible in nature. Thermal analyses and morphological studies revealed that there is a stronger interaction between LCP and HB30 than that between LCP and PET or HB05. Such a strong interaction seems to improve the adhesion between LCP and HB30 especially when 20 wt% of HB30 was blended with LCP, resulting in the reduction of mechanical anisotropy which is generally observed in LCP cast films.