Blends based on polystyrene and statistical aromatic copolycarbonates

The compatibility of polystyrene (PS) with aromatic copolycarbonates
containing bisphenol A (BPA) and tetramethyl bisphenol A (TMBPA) was investigated.
The simple prevision scheme developed by Sonja Krause was employed to evaluate the
effect of the copolymer molecular structure on the miscibility with polystyrene.
These prevision data were used to select copolycarbonates of potential interest.
Statistical copolycarbonates (CPC) containing different BPA/TMBPA molar ratios
were synthesised by polycondensation reaction between a mixture of the two
monomers and phosgene. PS/polycarbonates blends, prepared by casting from
chloroform solution, were studied with differential scanning calorimetry and
optical microscopy to evaluate the components compatibility, which increases with
the TMBPA copolymer content.