Morphological and thermal characterization of an immiscible catalyzed polymer blends (PC/PET)

The aim is to study the reactive compatibilization of two immiscible thermoplastic polyesters, namely polycarbonate (PC) and poly (ethylene terephthalate) (PET), by transesterification reactions through melt compounding. For this, a catalyst, which is hydrated samarium acetylacetonate (Sm(acac) ₃ ), is incorporated with concentrations of 0.10, 0.15 and 0.20 phr into the 70PC/30PET mixture. The characterization of the PC/PET blends by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) revealed that, the transesterification reactions in the absence of catalyst are undetectable or practically impossible; however, by increasing the catalyst concentration, significant variations are noticed on the thermal properties. These modifications, due to the interfacial reactions between the two phases of the system, were also evidenced by variations in morphological properties observed after the study of atomic force microscopy (AFM).