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Thermal analysis and miscibility of chitin/polycaprolactone blends
Author(s) -
Yang Anle,
Wu Renjie,
Zhu Pinfang
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
journal of applied polymer science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.575
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-4628
pISSN - 0021-8995
DOI - 10.1002/app.1763
Subject(s) - miscibility , polycaprolactone , dynamic mechanical analysis , materials science , chitin , glass transition , crystallization , fourier transform infrared spectroscopy , melting point , polymer blend , dynamic modulus , thermal analysis , polymer chemistry , chemical engineering , composite material , polymer , chitosan , thermodynamics , thermal , copolymer , physics , engineering
Abstract Chitin/polycaprolactone (PCL) blends were prepared by melt‐blending of chitin and PCL with varying amounts of chitin. Thermal analysis of DSC, DMTA, and FTIR were used to characterize the blends. Results showed that increases in the amount of chitin did not cause a decrease in either the melting point or the crystallization point of PCL. The loss‐modulus curve did not show a change of glass‐transition temperature ( T g ) from a dynamic temperature ramp test, which revealed that the pure chitin/PCL blend was not miscible at any ratio. When chitin n ‐butyrate (CB) was partly substituted for chitin in the blend, both the melting point and crystallization point of the PCL component was depressed, which implied an improvement of the miscibility of the blend. Furthermore, FTIR characterization suggested an interaction between the components. However, T g did not change compared to that of the pure PCL in the loss‐modulus curve, that is to say, that the modification of the miscibility by the introduction of CB to the blend lay only in the interfacial region, although not at the molecular level. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 81: 3117–3123, 2001