CHARACTERIZATION AND FREE-RADICAL POLYMERIZATION OF LIQUID-CRYSTALLINE ACRYLIC-ACID CELLULOSE DIACETATE AND N-VINYL-2-PYRROLIDINONE CELLULOSE DIACETATE SOLUTIONS

Polymerizations of liquid crystalline solutions of cellulose diacetate (CDA) in acrylic acid (AA) and N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidinone (NVP) were conducted in an attempt to prepare molecular composites (polymer blends) possessing a rigid rod polymer with liquid crystalline orientation. CDA was found to form liquid crystalline solutions in both AA and NVP at concentrations above 40 wt% CDA. Polymerization of anisotropic 50 wt% CDA-AA and CDA-NVP solutions occurred with considerable retention of the starting solution anisotropy and yielded homogeneous blends (1 T//g) when the rate of polymerization was fast relative to the phase separation of the free radically polymerizing AA or NVP with CDA. Slow polymerizations lead to phase separated blend (2 T//g).