PREPARATION, CHARACTERIZATION AND PROPERTIES OF GRADIENT POLYMER BLENDS - DISCUSSION OF POLY(VINYL CHLORIDE) POLY(METHYL METHACRYLATE) BLEND FILMS CONTAINING A WIDE COMPOSITIONAL GRADIENT PHASE/

We prepared several types of thick approximate to 200 mu m films of a poly(vinyl chloride)/poly-(methyl methacrylate) (PVC/PMMA) gradient po lymer blend, which contained a widely varied compositional gradient ph ase, using a dissolution and diffusion method. We discussed the prepar ation conditions by classifying those gradient blend films into 5 type s based on the results of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) meas urements and found the optimum conditions for preparing the ideal grad ient blend consisting of only one extremely wide compositional gradien t phase. Further, the gradient structures, which were evaluated by the results of DSC measurements, were confirmed by means of Fourier trans form infrared/attenuated total reflection (FTIR-ATR). Finally, the ide al blend was found to have significantly new or improved properties (e .g. a large half-width of temperature of the dissipation factor tan de lta) which cannot be observed in any PVC, PMMA homogeneously (that is ordinarily) miscible blend or a laminate system.