Effect of low molar mass liquid crystal and lubricant on miscibility and thermal properties of syndiotactic polystyrene blends

Abstract

This research concerned with the miscibility and thermal properties of syndiotactic polystyrene (SPS) blended with several polymers such as poly (a-methyl styrene)-PaMS, poly(ethyl methacrylate)-PEMA, poly(n-butyl methacrylate)-PBMA, poly(cyclohexyl acrylate)-PCHA, and poly(cis-isoprene)-PIP. The SPS synthesized by using metallocene catalyst and modified-methylaluminoxane (MMAO) as cocatalyst. From the experimental results, it was found that the SPS can be miscible with PaMS, PEMA, PBMA, PCHA, and PIP. Furthermore, the effects of the addition of low molar mass liquid crystal (cyclohexyl-biphenyl-cyclohexane, CBC33) and lubricant (glycerol monostearate, GMS) on thermal properties of the blended polymers with SPS are concerned. Both CBC33 and GMS can lower the crystallization temperature (T c ) of the blend and can also slightly lower the melting temperature (T m ) of the blends. This might be because of the higher mobility of SPS molecules induced the separation from the crystal both in the case of the depression of T c or T m . The higher mobility of the blends happened together with the further reduction of the melt viscosity of the blends according to CBC33 that can be proven by Motong et al. in 2008 (Motong et al., J Appl