N. Chatterjee et al., ELECTRICAL-CONDUCTIVITY OF THERMALLY DEGRADED POLY(VINYL CHLORIDE)-POLYACRYLONITRILE BLENDS, Journal of polymer science. Part A, Polymer chemistry, 33(17), 1995, pp. 2875-2879
Finely powdered blends of poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) and polyacrylonit
rile (PAN) have been thermally degraded at 275 degrees C for 24 h in a
n inert atmosphere to effect complete dehydrochlorination of PVC to a
conjugated polyene structure and simultaneous internal polymerization
of nitrile groups in PAN to a conjugated polyimine sequence. The room
temperature d.c. conductivity of the degraded blends showed clear syne
rgistic behavior. A maximum conductivity has been observed with a blen
d of 60 PAN/40 PVC which is about 4 orders of magnitude over the linea
rly weighted average conductivity of the individual degraded homopolym
ers. The results have been interpreted in terms of a possible donor-ac
ceptor interaction between the degraded homopolymers leading to mutual
doping and, hence, an enhanced electrical conductivity. (C) 1995 John
Wiley & Sons, Inc.