Blend miscibility of cellulose propionate with poly(N-vinyl pyrrolidone-co-methyl methacrylate)

The blend miscibility of cellulose propionate (CP) with poly(N-vinyl pyrrolidone-co-methyl methacrylate) (P(VP-co-MMA)) was investigated. The degree of substitution (DS) of CP used ranged from 1.6 to >2.9, and samples for the vinyl polymer component were prepared in a full range of VP:MMA compositions. Through DSC analysis and solid-state 13C NMR and FT-IR measurements, we revealed that CPs of DS < 2.7 were miscible with P(VP-co-MMA)s of VP ≥ ∼10 mol% on a scale within a few nanometers, in virtue of hydrogen-bonding interactions between CP-hydroxyls and VP-carbonyls. When the DS of CP exceeded 2.7, the miscibility was restricted to the polymer pairs using P(VP-co-MMA)s of VP = ca. 10–40 mol%; the scale of mixing in the blends concerned was somewhat larger (ca. 5–20 nm), however. The appearance of such a “miscibility window” was interpretable as an effect of intramolecular repulsion in the copolymer component. Results of DMA and birefringence measurements indicated that the miscible blending of CP with the vinyl polymer invited synergistic improvements in thermomechanical and optical properties of the respective constituent polymers. Additionally, it was found that the VP:MMA composition range corresponding to the miscibility window was expanded by modification of the CP component into cellulose acetate propionate.