Microstructural Analysis of SBR Blends Using Infrared Spectroscopy

Blends of emulsion SBR (E-SBR) and solution SBR (S-SBR) were prepared, and their microstructures (styrene, 1,2-unit, cis-1,4-unit, and trans-1,4-unit contents) were analyzed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) with transmittance mode. Method to measure absorbance by valley-to-valley baseline (TV) is objectively reasonable, but has a demerit which peak intensity of the cis-1,4-unit cannot be correctly measured. In order to obtain information for the four microstructures including cis-1,4-unit, measurement methods without correction (TM) and correction to 99% transmittance (TB) were compared to the TV method. Results obtained by the TB method were closer to those obtained by the TV one than those obtained by the TM. The microstructures were determined from the absorbances obtained by the TM and TB methods according to the ISO/FDIS 21561:2005(E). Variations of the styrene, 1,2-unit, and trans-1,4-unit contents with the blend ratio of E-SBR/S-SBR showed relatively good linearities, and there was no big difference between results obtained by the TM and TB methods. Variations of the cis-1,4-unit content with the blend ratio absolutely did not show linearities irrespective of the TM and TB methods.