Research on chemical reactions on miscible polymer blends is an area in which the opportunities for morphological control on top of chemical reactivity have important implications in regard to final materials properties, especially in polymer blends having critical solution temperatures where changes in reaction temperature affect miscibility, phase separation, and chemical reactivity. Oxidative studies will be carried out on miscible blends of poly(styrene) (PS) and poly(vinyl methyl ether) (PVME). PVME photo-oxidizes and thermo-oxidizes much more readily than polystyrene -- allowing for large differences in reactivity with oxygen. Prior studies have indicated that the rates of oxygen uptake by the homopolymers are significantly different than that of the blends. The research will involve - understanding the mechanistic chemical aspects of the oxidative stabilization phenomena for PS/PVME blends by use of model compounds, additional studies on the degradation products directly obtained from their oxidation experiments on the polymer systems, the effect of specific interactions such as hydrogen bonding on miscibility and oxidative aging in these systems, extension of these concepts into other systems, and the effect of added antioxidants and their distribution.
