Polymer incompatibility study of a polystyrene network contaminated by linear polyisoprene chains

The present paper deals with the study of anionic polystyrene (PS) networks containing linear polyisoprene (PI) chains. Special attention was devoted to the problem of the compatibility of such a system, depending on the molecular weight M?_w (weight average) or M?_n (number average) of the chains in the polymeric network and the number average molecular weight M?_n of the linear polyisoprene chains. For that purpose, three different methods were used: diffusion of a concentrated linear polyisoprene solution into the polymeric network, “in situ” polymerization of isoprene inside the polystyrene network, and crosslinking of “living” polystyrene in a linear polyisoprene solution.