Blends of cellulose ester/phenolic polymers – chemical and thermal properties of blends with polyvinyl phenol

A series of miscible cellulose ester/poly (vinyl phenol) (CE/PVP) blends containing a latent formaldehyde source were prepared. Due to the low molecular weight of the PVP, the maximum PVP content ID the films was 50 wt %. The blends were then thermally cross-linked ID an attempt to create semi-interpenetrating polymer networks (semi-IPN). The blends were characterized with differential scanning calorimetry, swelling experiments, pyrolysis molecular beam mass spectrometry (py-MBMS), and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The results from the swelling experiments, py-MBMS and FTIR showed that the PVP component did react with the formation of methylene bridges. Blends that contained 50% PVP and high levels of formaldehyde formed semi-IPN structures.