Crystallization behavior of PEO in blends of poly(ethylene oxide)/poly(2-vinyl pyridine)-b-(ethylene oxide) block copolymer

The crystallization behavior of two molecular weight poly(ethylene oxide)s (PEO) and their blends with the block copolymer poly(2-vinyl pyridine)-b-poly(ethylene oxide) (P2VP-b-PEO) was investigated by polarized optical microscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, differential scanning calorimetry, and atomic force microscopy (AFM). A sharp decreasing of the spherulite growth rate was observed with the increasing of the copolymer content in the blend. The addition of P2VP-b-PEO to PEO increases the degradation temperature becoming the thermal stability of the blend very similar to that of the block copolymer P2VP-b-PEO. Glass transition temperatures, T_g, for PEO/P2VP-b-PEO blends were intermediate between those of the pure components and the value increased as the content of PEO homopolymer decreased in the blend. AFM images showed spherulites with lamellar crystal morphology for the homopolymer PEO. Lamellar crystal morphology with sheaf-like lamellar arrangement was observed for 80 wt% PEO(200M) and a lamellar crystal morphology with grain aggregation was observed for 50 and 20 wt% blends. The isothermal crystallization kinetics of PEO was progressively retarded as the copolymer content in the blend increased, since the copolymer hinders the molecular mobility in the miscible amorphous phase. © 2011 Society of Plastics Engineers