Compatibilization of polycarbonate and poly(vinylidene fluoride) blends studied by time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry and scanning electron microscopy
Jy. Feng et al., Compatibilization of polycarbonate and poly(vinylidene fluoride) blends studied by time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry and scanning electron microscopy, SURF INT AN, 29(2), 2000, pp. 168-174
The compatibilization of polycarbonate (PC) and poly(vinylidene fluoride) (
PVDF) by poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) was elucidated in detail using ti
me-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) and scanning electr
on microscopy (SEM). Special PC/(PMMA/PVDF) sandwich-like samples were prep
ared for ToF-SIMS analysis. The ToF-SIMS results revealed that during the l
amination of the PC and PMMA/PVDF sheets at high temperature, PMMA diffused
from the PMMA/PVDF blend to the PC side. However, PC did not diffuse from
the PC side to the PMMA/PVDF side. These results provided direct evidence t
o support that the improved interfacial adhesion of the PC/PVDF blend was d
ue to PMMA and also indicated that PMMA may act as a compatibilizer for the
PC/PVDF blends. A comparison of ToF-SIMS chemical images obtained from PC/
PVDF (70/30) and PC/PMMA/PVDF (70/5/25) blends shows that the addition of P
MMA greatly decreases the domain size of the PVDF phase and causes a homoge
neous distribution of the PVDF phase. These results further confirmed the c
ompatibilizing effect of PMMA on PC/PVDF blends. The effects of PMMA conten
t and molecular weight on the morphology of PC/PMMA/PVDF blends were also s
tudied and discussed. Copyright (C) 2000 John Whey & Sons, Ltd.