Morphology and electrical conductivity of PS/PMMA/SMMA blends filled with carbon black

Abstract

An alternative strategy to reduce the percolation threshold of carbon black (CB) in polymer blends was investigated using random copolymer ternary blends of polystyrene (PS), poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), and a styrene-methyl methacrylate random copolymer (SMMA). The target morphology was to selectively locate CB particles in the encapsulating layer of SMMA during melt mixing. The CB used in this study is BP-2000 from Cabot and has a strong selective affinity to PS. Even when the CB was premixed with SMMA, it moves to the PS phase during the melt mixing. However, we also observed the CB particles located at the interface between SMMA and PS phases. Through this study it is found that the interaction between polymers and CB particles is critical for selectively localizing CB particles in multi-component polymer blends. Although appropriate processing condition may retard the movement of CB particles to the polymer phase with affinity, it cannot prevent it completely and locate them to the SMMA phase, which is not thermodynamically favored. To locate CB particles in an encapsulating layer of ternary polymer blends, first of all, polymers forming it should have selective affinity to CB.