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RESEARCH PRODUCT

The solidification behavior of a PBT/PET blend over a wide range of cooling rate

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In recent years, much attention has been paid to the development of high-performance polyester blends, among which blends of polybutylene terephthalate/polyethylene terephthalate (PBT/PET) are expected to exhibit remarkable properties as far as their crystallization behavior is concerned. Through trial and error, appropriate commercial compositions have been chosen which could not be otherwise explained by a suitable interpretation of the mechanisms determining their solidification behavior. The solidification behavior of a 60/40 w/w PBT/PET blend was studied in a wide range of cooling conditions, according to a continuous cooling transformation (CCT) procedure developed previously, aiming at emulating the typical conditions encountered in polymer processing. Several samples characterized by a homogeneous structure were solidified from the melt at various cooling rates and the resulting structure and properties were subsequently evaluated by analyzing the density, microhardness (MH), and wide angle x-ray diffraction (WAXD). The resulting solidification behavior was then compared to that exhibited by the individual constituents of the blend (i.e., PBT and PET). The blend displayed a unique solidification behavior, conversely to those of the pure components which showed characteristics not recognized in the blend except at certain restricted cooling rates ranges. The cooling rate dependence observed in the blend does not bring similarities to the crystallization behavior of individual constituents since the fall down of density with cooling rate should be related to the rate controlling demixing stage of the two moieties just before crystallization occurs. The kinetics observed is thus a measure of the kinetics of demixing. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 47: 799–810, 2009