Compatibilization efficiency of styrene-butadiene multiblock copolymers in PS/PP blends

The compatibilizing effect of di-, tri-, penta-, and heptablock (two types) copolymers with styrene and butadiene blocks was studied in polystyrene/polypropylene (PS/PP) 4/1 blends. The structure of PS/PP blends with the addition of 5 or 10 wt % of a block copolymer (BC) was determined on several scale levels by means of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS). The results of the structure analysis were correlated with measured stress-transfer properties: elongation at break, impact, and tensile strength. Despite the fact that the molar mass of the PS blocks in all the BCs used was about 10,000, that is, below the critical value M* (∼18,000) necessary for the formation of entanglements of PS chains, all the BCs used were found to be good compatibilizers. According to TEM, a certain amount of a BC is localized at the interface in all the analyzed samples, and this results in a finer dispersion of the PP particles in the PS matrix, the effect being more pronounced with S-B-S triblock and S-B-S-B-S pentablock copolymers. The addition of these two BCs to the PS/PP blend also has the most pronounced effect on the improvement of mechanical properties of these blends. Hence, these two BCs can be assumed to be better compatibilizers for the PS/PP (4/1) blend than the S-B diblock as well as both S-B-S-B-S-B-S and B-S-B-S-B-S-B heptablock copolymers. In both types of PS/PP/BC blends (5 or 10 wt % BC), the BC added was distributed between both the PS/PP interface and the PS phase, and, according to SAXS, it maintained a more or less ordered supermolecular structure of neat BCs. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci B: Polym Phys 39: 931–942, 2001