Mixed monolayers of pmas with poly(styrene-b-methyl methacrylate) at the air/water interface

Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) is known to be immiscible with poly(styrene) (PS) in the bulk state. Poly(ethyl methacrylate) (PEMA), poly(propyl methacrylate) (PPMA), and poly(n-butyl methacrylate) (PBMA) are also known to be immiscible with PMMA (or PS). Therefore, PMAs (PMMA, PEMA, PPMA, and PBMA) are predicted by the mean field theory to be immiscible with poly(styrene-b-methyl methacrylate) (PS-b-PMMA) in the bulk state. However, the miscibility of PMAs with PS-b-PMMA may be different in the two-dimensional state. Therefore, the mixed monolayer behavior of PMAs and PS-b-PMMA was investigated from the measurements of surface pressure-area per molecule (-A) isotherms at three different temperatures (10 degrees C, 25 degrees C, and 40 degrees C). Calculation of compressibility from isotherms provided the inflection data from maximum and minimum peaks. The miscibility and nonideality of the mixed monolayers were examined by calculating the excess area as a function of composition. Mostly, negative deviations from ideality were observed in the mixed monolayers. This is likely because of favorable interaction between PMMA and PMAs in the monolayer state. The positive deviations occurred at 40 degrees C with PBMA at a high surface pressure. Therefore, with confinement in the two-dimensional state, the miscibility between PMAs and PS-b-PMMA was greatly improved in comparison with the bulk state. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 2013. (c) 2012 Society of Plastics Engineers