Compatibility studies of polystyrene–polybutadiene blends by thermal analysis

Abstract In order to examine the behavior of incompatible blends of polystyrene and polybutadiene, the glass transition temperature, the melting point, and the specific heat increment at the glass transition temperature for atactic polystyrene ( a ‐PS), isotactic polystyrene ( i ‐PS), polybutadiene (PBD), and blends of a ‐PS/PBD and i ‐PS/PBD were determined by use of a differential scanning calorimeter. Blends were prepared by solution casting, freeze‐drying, and milling. Weight fractions of polystyrene in the blends ranged from 0.95 to 0.05. The glass transition temperature of polystyrene changed with weight fraction in the blends, and with blending preparation methods; the glass transition temperature of polybutadiene remained essentially unchanged. The specific heat increment at the glass transition temperature of PBD decreases linearly with increasing proportions of PS in the PS/PBD blend for the broad and narrow molecular weight distribution polybutadience polymers, whereas the specific heat increment for PS did not decrease with increasing proportions of PBD in the PS/PBD blend. These results suggest that the polybutadiene dissolves more in the polystyrene phase than does the polystyrene in the polybutadiene phase.