Blends of bacterial poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) and a poly (epichlorohydrin-co-ethylene oxide) copolymer:: thermal and CO2 transport properties

In this work the miscibility and the carbon dioxide transport properties of a bacterial, isotactic poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (iPHB) and its blends with a copolymer of epichlorohydrin and ethylene oxide (ECH-co-EO) have been studied. Blends were prepared by solution/precipitation. The aim to obtain miscible blends of iPHB with a rubbery second component (such as the ECH-co-EO copolymer) is to have mixtures with glass transition temperatures below room temperature. In these conditions, the iPHB chains not involved in the crystalline regions retain its mobility. This mobility seems to be necessary for the attack of microorganisms and the corresponding biodegradability. Miscibility is the general rule of these mixtures, as shown by the existence of a single glass transition temperature for each blend and by the depression of the iPHB melting point. The interaction energy density stabilising the mixtures, calculated using the Nishi-Wang treatment, was similar to those of other polymer mixtures involving different polyesters and poly(epichlorohydrin) (PECH) and ECH-co-EO copolymers. The so-called binary interaction model has been used in order to simulate the evolution of the interaction energy density with the ECH-co-EO copolymer composition. Previously reported experimental data on blends of iPHB with PECH and poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) have been used to quantify the required segmental interaction energy densities. In the determination of the CO2 transport properties of the mixtures, only iPHB rich blends containing up to 40% of copolymer were considered. The effect of the ECH-co-EO copolymer is to increase the sorption and the diffusion of the penetrant (and, consequently, the permeability) with respect to the values of the pure iPHB. This is primarily due to the reduction of the global crystallinity of the blends and to the low barrier character of the ECH-co-EO copolymer. Sorption data can be reasonably reproduced using an extension of the Henry's law to ternary systems. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.