Estudo de solubilidade do poliestireno (PS) e da policaprolactona (PCL) em diferentes solventes orgânicos

Abstract

The polymer solubility is an important tool used in evaluating the characteristics of a polymer. This study aimed to analyse the polystyrene behaviour (PS) of three distinct molecular weights (Mw = 192, 280 and 350 kDa) and polycaprolactone (PCL) of two different number average molecular weights (Mn= 10 and 80 kDa) in solution by means of turbidimetry technique. The study began with the approach of Hansen solubility parameters. Of all the solvents tested, solubility tests were performed with only five of them: acetone, ethyl acetate, ethanol, isopropanol and water, and it was observed if such solvents behaved as described in the literature. After this evaluation, ethyl acetate was used as a solvent for polystyrene and acetone as a solvent for polycaprolactone in preliminary experiments of precipitation in which were used ethanol, isopropanol and water as anti-solvent. For turbidity was found that lower percentages by weight of polymer (0.3, 1.0 and 5.0%) were consistent with the literature, whereas the samples containing 10 and 15 % had opposite behaviour.