BREAKDOWN OF TIME TEMPERATURE SUPERPOSITION IN MISCIBLE POLYMER BLENDS AND THE COUPLING SCHEME

The coupling theoretical scheme has been used to describe the terminal as well as the softening dispersion of a miscible blend of 20 wt % polyethylene oxide) in poly(methyl methacrylate). Compared with the pure states, the blend has a drastically reduced number of kinetic couplings of PEO chains but a slightly increased number for PMMA chains. This modification of kinetic coupling provides insight into the breakdown of time-temperature superposition in the blend as observed by Colby. Further use of the other consequences of the coupling theory has yielded results that are in agreement with several other features of the experimental data. © 1990, American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.