Novel polymer blends based on poly(ether-urethane) ionomer and ion-containing styrene copolymer

The structure-property relationships of thermoplastic polymer blends based on poly(ether-urethane) ionomer (PEUI) and ion-containing styrene-acrylic acid copolymer (S-co-AA(K)) have been investigated by using DMTA, DSC and TGA, as well as tensile 14 tests. Convergence of the glass transition temperature (T-g) values of the PEUI and the S-co-AA(K) components in the blends studied, as compared to the individual polymers, was found and explained by improving compatibility of the components due to increasing effective density of physical networks formed by ion-dipole and ion-ion interactions of ionic groups of the components. Character of E=f(T) and E'=f(T) dependencies confirms the increase of the effective density of physical networks in the compositions studied compared to individual PEUI and S-co-AA(K). Improvement of end-use properties, i.e. thermal stability and tensile properties has been found for the PEUI/S-co-AA(K) compositions with lower content of S-co-AA(K) (i.e. <10 mass%) and explained by formation of additional network of intermolecular ionic bonds between the functional groups of PEUI and S-co-AA(K).