Novel biodegradable poly(butylene succinate)/poly (ethylene oxide) blend film with compositional and spherulite-size gradients

Biodegradable poly(butylene succinate) (PBS)/poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) polymer blend film with compositional gradient in the film thickness direction was prepared using a method of interdiffusion across the interface between the PBS and PEO layers at a temperature above the melting points of both the component polymers. The miscibility between PBS and PEO was confirmed by observation of the glass transition temperature by differential scanning calorimetry. The compositional gradient structure of PBS/PEO was characterized by microscopic mapping measurement of Fourier transform infrared spectra and dynamic mechanical thermal analysis. Furthermore, a new method for confirming the crystalline/crystalline compositional gradient structure through observing the crystallization behavior by POM (polarized optical microscopy) was put forward. A continuous gradient of the spherulite size along the film thickness direction was succeessfully generated in the PBS/PEO blend film. The compositional gradient blend was found to have significantly improved physical properties that cannot be realized for pure PBS, pure PEO, and even their homogeneous miscible blend system. (C) 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.