The Compatibility Characterization of PMMA/DPET Based Polymer Blend

Abstract

The compatibility of polymers based on the blending of methyl methacrylate (PMMA) and depolymerized polyethylene terephthalate (DPET) was studied in this investigation. Initially, the PET was obtained using the waste bottle before the depolymerization process to get the final product of DPET. Here, the preparation of the polymer blend used was carried out by mixing the two polymers manually. The affinity of the polymers to each other is conducted using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results of FT-IR indicate that some bands were shifted, some of them were decreased, and the others were eliminated by the addition of DPET to PMMA. This behavior can be attributed to interaction and coordination between the PMMA and DPET. Based on DSC analysis, the melting temperatures of PMMA and DPET blends were reduced as compared to pure PMMA, with the exception of the 99/1 (PMMA/DPET) blend. PMMA's surface morphology reveals a rough surface with a micropore structure. The appearance of pure DPET in the SEM image shows a rough surface with diverse shaped and sized particles. Also, the 5/95 (DPET/PMMA) blend doesn't seem to have any visible phase separation. Keywords: Compatibility, polymer blend, PMMA, DPET