Spectroscopic and thermal studies of PS/PVAc blends

Polystyrene and polyvinyl acetate (PS/PVAc) films were blended with different contents using casting method. The effect of PS content on PVAc blends was investigated by Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Ultra violet and visible studies (UV/VIS), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Significant changes in FT-IR, XRD and DSC analysis are observed which reveals an interactions between the two polymers and PS/PVAc blends had good or certain miscibility. XRD scans show some changes in the intensity and the height of the amorphous halos with increased PS. UV/VIS analysis revealed that the optical band gap decreases with increasing content of PS from 5 to 4.11 eV. A single glass transition temperature for each blend was observed, this DSC results supported that the miscibility existed in the blend. The apparent activation energy (E) of the blends was evaluated using TGA analysis. The value of E was increased with the increase of PS content.