New Method Based on Direct Analysis in Real-Time Coupled with Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry (DART-ToF-MS) for Investigation of the Miscibility of Polymer Blends

Abstract

The miscibility of a series of binary blends such as polystyrene/poly(methyl methacrylate) (PS/PMMA), polystyrene/poly(vinyl chloride)(PS/PVC), poly(vinyl chloride)/poly(polymethyl methacrylate)(PVC/PMMA) and poly(ethylene-co-vinyl alcohol)/poly(lactide-co-glycolide acid) PEVAL/PLGA with equal ratios and poly(ethylene oxide)/poly(hydroxyl propyl methyl cellulose) (PEO/PHPMC) containing 30 and 70 wt% PEO, which were randomly chosen among the widely systems reported in the literature, was investigated by a new method based on a direct analysis in real-time coupled with time-of-flight mass spectrometry (DART-ToF-MS). To reach this goal these pairs of polymers and copolymers were prepared by solvent casting method. As a first step, the DSC technique was undertaken in this work to highlight the published results on the miscibility of these binary systems. The thermogravimetry analysis (TGA) was used to define the optimum decomposition temperature of these blends programmed for the study of miscibility using the DART-ToF-MS technique. The results obtained by this method based on the comparison of the nature of the fragments resulting from the isothermal decomposition of the blend with those of their pure components have been very effective in demonstrating the character of miscibility of these systems. Indeed, it was found that the PS/PMMA-50 and PS/PVC-50 blends were immiscible, PVC/PMMA-50 and PEVAL/PLGA-50 miscible, and the PEO/PHMC partially miscible. This method, which is rapid and uses a very small amount of sample (1–2 mg) can be extended in its application to other blends whose other methods used have shown their limits due to the intrinsic properties of the polymers involved.