Comparison of tensile stress relaxation behavior of graft copolymer of poly(vinyl acetate) with styrene and mechanical mixture of poly(vinyl acetate) with polystyrene

As one in a series of studies relating the rheological behavior of mechanical mixtures of two polymer components to the degree of mixing, the tensile stress relaxation behavior of a graft copolymer of poly(vinyl acetate) with styrene, obtained by 60 Co γ‐irradiation of poly(vinyl acetate) in styrene solution and extraction of homopolymers, was investigated as a function of the fraction of styrene component and compared with that of a mechanical mixture of poly(vinyl acetate) with polystyrene, one of the typical combinations of incompatible components. The results obtained may classify the graft copolymer as a sort of mechanical mixture giving stable mixing even for incompatible components.