Use of synchrotron radiation in plastics analysis

We demonstrate the application of synchrotron small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) in measuring the thermodynamic properties of polymer blends. The pol ymers under investigation consist of poly(cyclohexyl acrylate) (PCHA) blend ed with the ortho and meta isomer of poly(bromostyrene) (P2BrS, P3BrS), Mea surements of the absolute scattered intensity enable the determination of t he second derivative of the Gibbs free energy of mixing with respect to the concentration, the location of the spinodal temperature, and the Flory-Hug gins chi-parameter.