Thermal conductivities of blends of polyethylene/SEBS block copolymer and polystyrene/SEBS block copolymer

Thermal conductivities of two series of blends of polystyrene and styrene–ethylene/butyrene–styrene block copolymer (PS/SEBS), and polyethylene and styrene‐ethylene/butylene‐styrene block copolymer (PE/SEBS) were measured. Here the PS part and hydrogenated polybutadiene (EB; ethylene‐butene‐1 copolymer) part of SEBS were confirmed to be miscible in PS and PE homopolymers, respectively, by the differential scanning calorimetry. The thermal conductivity of PS/SEBS increased, while that of PE/SEBS blends decreased monotonically, with increasing SEBS content. No significant changes in the range where microphases usually occur were noted. The thermal conductivities of PS/SEBS and PE/SEBS were explained by modifications of our equation for composites. Thermal conductivity of EB in SEBS was estimated from that of PS/SEBS blend as 4.9 × 10 −4 cal/s cm °C. Further, the thermal conductivity of PE/SEBS could be predicted by substituting the obtained value of EB into the modified equation. Therefore, the modified equations were confirmed to be applicable to thermal conductivities of PE/SEBS and PE/SEBS blends. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.