Creation of crosslinkable interphases in polymer blends by means of novel coupling agents

The modification of interface in immiscible polymer blends, which determine to a large degree of the blend properties, attracted many researchers to incorporate various reactive sites at the interphases of two polymers. The goal of the work was to study such possibilities for the chemical modification of the interface in inhomogeneous polymer blends. For this purpose novel coupling agents (named SCA) containing 2-oxazoline, 2-oxazinone, and hydrosilane reactive sites have been prepared and used in various polymer blend systems. In blends of amino- functional and carboxylic acid terminated polymers the oxazoline and oxazinone units of the SCA react selectively with one of the polymers and, therefore, the SCA should locate at the interface. The remaining hydrosilane sites can now be used for further modification, e. g. for crosslinking. The crosslinked interphases might enhance the interfacial adhesion, stabilize the morphology and influence the corresponding properties such as rheological, thermal and mechanical properties of the blends.