Synthesis and characterization of poly(ethylene terephthalate-co-isophthalate)s with low content of isophthalate units

The objective of this work was to study the effect of the introduction of low amounts of isophthalate units on the mechanical properties, crystallization rates, and thermal parameters of poly(ethylene terephthalate). For this reason a series of five random poly(ethylene terephthalate-co-isophthalate) copolymers, containing 0.5, 1, 1.5, 2, and 4 mol % isophthalic acid, were prepared by the melt polycondensation process. The intrinsic viscosity of copolymers ranged between 0.7 and 0.8 dL/g. The increase of isophthalate content resulted in a significant decrease of the crystallization rates, but in a small decline of tensile strength, Young's modulus, and elongation at break, whereas tensile strength at yield point remained almost unaffected. Also, a decrease in the melting point was recorded, whereas the glass-transition temperature was only very slightly affected. The higher decrease for the aforementioned parameters was noted for the copolymer with 4 mol % isophthalate units content. (C) 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.