Evaluation of thermodynamic parameters for blends of polyethersulfone and poly(methyl methacrylate) or polystyrene in dimethylformamide

Liquid-liquid phase separation phenomena have been investigated for a ternary system containing two polymers and a solvent. Namely, dimethylformamide (DMF)/polyethersulfone (PES)/poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and DMF/PES/Polystyrene (PS). The composition of the three components in the two phases in equilibrium has been determined by size exclusion chromatographic (s.e.c.) analysis. The lattice-based mean-held theory, first developed by Flory and Huggins, has been modified to adequately describe these systems. In this respect, we have assumed that the parameters depend on the polymer concentration, and we have included a ternary parameter. The phase equilibrium compositions have been used as input data to solve a set of equations raised following four different approximations mainly concerned with the composition dependence of the interaction parameters. Values of the Gibbs free energy of mixing as a function of the blend composition were also evaluated and discussed in terms of the blend stability. (C) 1998 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.