Abstract
In this work, an effective method of characterizing the adhesion at the interface of partially miscible and immiscible binary polymer is used. Three polymer blends namely PS/PMMA, PP/NBR and PVC/SAN were irradiated with e-beam and microwaves, in order to bring about interfacial modification, and were characterized in terms of free volume measured by Positron Lifetime technique. The changes in free volume parameters upon e-beam and microwave irradiation on the two systems clearly shows improved interaction between the blend constituents as a result of cross-linking through hydrogen bond formation. However, the extent of interfacial modification brought in at different weight compositions is not forthcoming. Therefore, the hydrodynamic interaction parameter α, which accounts for friction at the interface between the dissimilar chains of the blend constituents, is evaluated from the very same free volume data. Since α represents the strength of hydrodynamic interaction, it could be taken as an indicator of the adhesion strength at the interface. Present results showed that both e-beam and microwave irradiations can be used to stabilize the interfaces in binary polymer blends as evidenced by hydrodynamic interaction.