Electrical and Mechanical Properties of Polystyrene-Poly(methyl methacrylate) Blends

Polystyrene modified PMMA blends were prepared by the extrusion moulding technique with different weight percentage. The prepared blends were characterized by FTIR (structural study) and SEM (surface morphology). The important characteristic peaks of pure PS and PMMA appearing in the spectra confirm the compatible blends results in flourishing the interface between the polymers. DC conductivity increases with increase in temperature as well as PMMA percentage up to 6 wt% and the highest conductivity is found to be 12 x 10(-9) S/cm. This increase in conductivity is due to the increase in charge density and extended charge length which is confirmed by NTC plot. Further the mechanical study was carried out using UTM and found that the tensile strength and modulus is enhanced as a function of PMMA concentration. DSC plots indicate that there is an increase in melting point with increase in PMMA concentration in PS which is supported by TGA graphs showing that the thermal stability increases due to addition of PMMA. Therefore these materials have potential use in technological applications.