Adsorbed poly(ethylene-stat-vinyl acetate) (PEVAc) on fumed silica was studied using modulated differential scanning calorimetry (MDSC) and FTIR. Poly(vinyl acetate) was used as the reference. MDSC analysis of the copolymer-silica composites revealed that behavior of the copolymer composites in the glass transition region was complicated because of the crystallinity of the copolymer. Nevertheless, examination of the glass transition region for different adsorbed amounts of the copolymer indicated that there was an increase in the glass transition temperature of the adsorbed copolymers compared to bulk. A series of polymer-silica composites having different adsorbed amounts of polymer (Mt ) was used to obtain the amount of tightly bound polymer (Mb ) and the ratio of molar absorption coefficient of bound carbonyls to free carbonyls (X ). The obtained X  values were used to calculate the fraction of bound carbonyls (p ). The copolymers had shown very high p  values at low adsorbed amounts indicating the change of copolymer conformation to get maximum adsorption to the surface.

Thermal analysis and FTIR studies of adsorbed poly(ethylene-stat-vinyl acetate) on silica

245th National Meeting (2013)

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