Determination of the diffusion of poly(ethylene glycol) in polypropylene using ATR-FTIR

Abstract

The diffusion of poly(ethy1ene glycol) (PEG) in polypropylene (PP) was investigated using attenuated total reflectance Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), Atomic Force Micrograph (AFM), and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). It has been found that the diffusion of PEG in PP was greatly affected by the annealing temperature and the molecular weight of PEG. Higher temperature was in favor of PEG to diffuse in PP with fast velocity and reached diffusion equilibrium with shorter time. PEG with higher molecular weight was distributed in PP with bigger phase domains and had lower diffusivity, which resulted in its lesser enrichment on the surface of the PP blend film.