Blending of poly(ethyl methacrylate) with poly(2-hydroxy-3-phenoxypropyl methacrylate): Thermal and optical properties

Abstract

The miscibility behavior of poly(ethyl methacrylate) [poly(EMA)] with poly(2-hydroxy-3-phenoxypropyl methacrylate) [poly(PPMA)] was studied by DSC technique. Thermogravimetric analysis was used to investigate the thermal degradationmechanism and activation energies for initial decomposition process under non-isothermal conditions by integral approximation methods. The reaction mechanism of decomposition process using the kinetic equations of Coats-Redfern method was described by kinetic equations of phase-boundary-controlled reaction, R-3 mechanism. The activation energies for R-3 mechanism are very close to the values obtained in both Kissinger (115.6 kJ/mol) and Flyn-Wall-Ozawa (121.1 kJ/mol) methods. The optical and dispersion parameters such as refractive index, extinction coefficient, steepness parameter, single-oscillator energy and dispersion energy of blend polymer were determined in the visible range as a function of wavelength. The energy of Urbach corresponding to the width of the band tails of localized states and the optical band gap constant were calculated to be 1.08 and 3.33 eV, respectively.