STUDY OF THE MELTING AND CRYSTALLIZATION BEHAVIOR OF BINARY POLY(EPSILON-CAPROLACTONE) POLY(HYDROXY ETHER OF BISPHENOL-A) BLENDS

Blends of poly(hydroxy ether of Bisphenol A) (Phenoxy, PH) with poly(epsilon-caprolactone) (PCL) were prepared by the casting method. The glass transition temperatures, the isothermal crystallization process from the melt, and the melting temperature of PCL were studied by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The blends exhibit a single composition-dependent glass transition temperature, characteristic of miscible systems. Blend interaction parameters, obtained from analysis of the melting point depression, observed by optical microscopy and DSC, were -2.42 and -2.16 cal/cm3, respectively. Analysis of the isothermal crystallization curves by means of the Avrami equation leads to n approximately 3, almost independent of composition and crystallization temperature. The analysis of kinetic data according to nucleation theory indicates that crystallization of PCL in the explored temperature range takes place in regime II, while the blends show a regime II-III transition.