Mechanical and thermomechanical characterization of PVC/polyalkylacrylate blends

The effect of blending poly(ethyl acrylate) and poly(butyl acrylate) in various proportions with suitably stabilized and plasticized polyvinyl chloride (PVC) was studied with reference to their physical, mechanical, thermal, and morphological properties. The tensile modulus and ultimate tensile strength indicated a rise initially, followed by their steady decrease with increasing concentration of the polyalkyl acrylates. A corresponding behavior of elongation at break and toughness are exhibited. The various polyblends exhibit thermal stability over unmodified PVC, as reflected from their thermomechanical studies, in which the penetration is also inversely related to the respective moduli. The biphasic cocontinuous systems as explicit from the morphological studies support phase mixing at the initial stages, with subsequent phasing-out tendency, with increasing percentage of polyalkyl acrylate incorporation. The thermomechanical parameters are in conformity to their mechanical parameters, which have been further supported by their morphological studies. (c) 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.