Polymer Engineering and Science, Vol.39, No.12, 2475-2481, 1999
Properties of poly(ethylene terephthalate)/poly(ethylene naphthalate) blends
Blends composed of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) as the majority component and poly(ethylene naphthalate)(PEN) as the minority component were melt-mixed in a single screw extruder at various PET/PEN compound ratios. Tensile and flexural test results reveal a good PET/PEN composition dependence, indicating that the compatibility of the blends is effective in a macrodomain. In thermal tests, single transitions for T-g, T-m and T-c (crystallization temperature), respectively, are observed from DSC as well as single T-g from DMA except for 50/50 blends. These results suggest that the compatibility is sufficient down to the submicron level. Moreover, isothermal DSC tests along with Avrami analysis indicate that PET's crystallization is significantly retarded when blended with PEN. Results in this study demonstrate that PEN is a highly promising additive to improve PET's spinnability at high speeds.