Diallyl orthophthalate as a reactive plasticizer for polycarbonate. Part 1: Uncured system

Diallyl orthophthalate (DAOP) has been used as a reactive plasticizer for polycarbonate (PC) due to the low reactivity and high conversion at the gel point of DAOP and its high solubility in PC. Miscible blends of PC with various ratios of DAOP have been investigated using gel permeation chromatography, differential scanning calorimetry, rheometry, dynamic mechanical thermal analysis and optical microscopy (with and without polarised light), and the experimental results have shown that DAOP can act as an effective plasticizer in PC processing by lowering the melt viscosity, the melting and the crystallisation temperatures, and by reducing the glass transition temperature of the blend. However, the molecular mobility provided to the PC chains by DAOP causes crystallisation of the PC as shown by optical microscopy and DSC and this places limits on the potential reduction in the processing temperature of the blend.