MORPHOLOGY FORMED IN BINARY BLENDS OF POLY(EPSILON-CAPROLACTONE) AND EPSILON-CAPROLACTONE-BUTADIENE DIBLOCK COPOLYMER

The morphology formed in binary blends of poly(epsilon-caprolactone) ( PCL) and epsilon-caprolactone-butadiene diblock copolymer (PCL-b-PB) h as been investigated by small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS). The diffe rence in the microdomain structure in the melt yielded different morph ologies after crystallization: when PCL dispersed uniformly in the PCL domain in the melt, the morphology was an alternating structure compo sed of lamellae and amorphous layers (lamellar morphology). When PCL w as localized within the PCL domain, a mosaic structure of two lamellar morphologies, each consisting of a PCL region and a PCL-b-PB-rich reg ion, was formed over a limited composition range.