Structural studies of poly(butyl acrylate) – poly(ethylene oxide) miktoarm star polymers

Structural behavior of miktoarm star polymers comprising poly(butyl acrylate) (PBA) and poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) arms was studied by means of Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), Wide Angle X-Ray Scattering (WAXS), Polarized Optical Microscopy (POM) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) methods. The aim of this study was to correlate changes in the composition of the arms of the PBA/PEO miktoarm star polymers with their structures. As a consequence of increasing PBA content, the decrease in crystallinity of the studied PBA/PEO heteroarm star copolymers was observed. Regardless of the copolymer composition, fraction of oxyethylene units in the crystalline PEO phase was similar in all investigated systems. The POM images showed spherulitic morphology of the materials having low PBA content, while an increase in PBA arms fraction leads to the formation of less ordered structures. The analysis of FTIR vibrational spectrum indicates helical conformation of PEO chains in the crystalline phase. Isothermal crystallization studies carried out using the FTIR technique suggest the existence of isolated domains in the nanoscopic scale of investigated materials.