MECHANICAL-PROPERTIES OF POLY(VINYL CHLORIDE) BLENDS AND CORRESPONDING GRAFT-COPOLYMERS

The mechanical properties of the poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) and poly(g lycidyl methacrylate) [poly(GMA)] blend system and the PVC and poly(hy droxyethyl methacrylate) [poly(HEMA)] blend system and their crosslink ed films were investigated. At the same time, the mechanical propertie s for the corresponding graft copolymers such as PVC-g-GMA, PVC-g-HEMA , and their crosslinked films were also investigated in this study. Th e results showed that the tensile strengths for PVC-poly(GMA) blend sy stems were higher than those for PVC-g-GMA graft copolymer, and the te nsile strengths for PVC-g-HEMA were higher than those for PVC-poly(HEM A) blend systems. However, the mechanical properties for the PVC-poly( GMA) blend system were not affected by the crosslinking of the blend s ystem, but those for PVC-poly(HEMA) and their graft copolymers decreas ed with an increase of the equivalent ratio ([NCO]/[OH]) of the crossl inker. Finally, the surface hydrophilicity of the PVC-g-HEMA graft cop olymer and PVC-poly(HEMA) blends were also assessed through measuring the contact angle. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.