Lipophilic Ionomers with Bulky Ion-Pairs and Effect of Counterion on Miscibility of the Ionomer Blends

摘要

In this study, polystyrene (PS) ionomers having tetraalkylammonium with a series of counterions are prepared with various feed ratio of the ionic units and blended with nonionic poly(n-butyl methacrylate) (PBMA) which is originally immiscible with PS. According to differential scanning calorimetry analysis, in the blends of ionomers with tetraarylborate and PBMA, the ionomers with more than 1 mol% of the ionic units are completely miscible with PBMA. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction measurements reveal that the bulky and lipophilic ion-pair inhibits the association of ions and instead induces the attractive interaction to alkyl groups of PBMA. Tensile tests of the miscible specimen exhibit both characteristic behavior, that is, high tensile strength as PS and high elongation property of PBMA.