Blends of styrene–butadiene–styrene tri-block copolymer/polyaniline—Characterization by SAXS

The electrically conductive elastomer blends based on styrene–butadiene–styrene (SBS) tri-block copolymer and polyaniline–dodecylbenzene sulfonic acid (PANI.DBSA) were prepared by two methods, namely, melt mixing and in situ polymerization of aniline in the presence of SBS. The influence of composition and synthetic methods on the properties of SBS/PANI has been studied. SBS/PANI blends are characterized for physico-mechanical properties such as density, tensile strength and tensile modulus. A drastic reduction in volume resistivity with increase in PANI content is noticed for blends prepared by in situ polymerization compared to melt mixing method. Using Porod's law we have estimated the interface thickness and the value turns out to be 0.55 ± 0.04 in all cases. The microstructural parameters such as long mean periodicity (LM), crystalline length (LC), amorphous length (LA), correlation length (LCOR) and percentage of crystallinity are estimated in these blends using small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) data. The results are compared with mechanical and electrical properties.