MORPHOLOGY OF POLYOXYMETHYLENE-BASED POLYMER ALLOYS

A transmission electron microscopic study was carried out on polymer a lloys of polyoxymethylene (POM) with low density polyethylene (LDPE) a nd styrene/acrylonitrile-grafted LDPE (LDPE-g-PSAN) from the point of view that the compatibility of POM and LDPE will be improved by the gr afted PSAN chain which has a solubility parameter close to that of POM , though POM and LDPE are immiscible with each other. Low temperature plasma etching followed by the carbon replica method were applied to e xamine the size and distribution of particles in LDPE and LDPE-g-PSAN in POM matrices by TEM. The size distribution curve of the dispersed p articles had its maximum at a particle diameter of approximately 1.5 m um for LDPE and approximately 0.2 mum for LDPE-g-PSAN. It was also fou nd from the TEM morphologies that the interaction of the particles wit h the POM matrix is stronger for LDPE-g-PSAN than for LDPE. This is ac counted for by a difference in their solubility parameters.