## 4 Influence of QACs on Thermo-Mechanical Properties of Polymer Blends and Polymer Composites
### Influence of QASs and QAILs on Polymer Blends
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c c c c c c} \hline \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**Polymer Blend**} & \multirow{2}{*}{**QASs/QAILs**} & \multicolumn{8}{c}{**Thermo-Mechanical Properties \({}^{*}\)**} & \multirow{2}{*}{**References**} \\ \cline{3-11}  & & \(\mathbf{T_{4}}\) & \(\mathbf{T_{8}}\) & \(\mathbf{T_{m}}\) & \(\mathbf{\mathrm{TS}}\) & \(\mathbf{\mathrm{TM}}\) & \(\mathbf{\mathrm{TE}}\) & \(\mathbf{\mathrm{FS}}\) & \(\mathbf{\mathrm{FE}}\) & \(\mathbf{\mathrm{IS}}\) \\ \hline Nylon-6/LNR & HTAB & \(\mathbf{\mathrm{\Downarrow}}\) & \(\mathbf{\mathrm{\Downarrow}}\) & - & \(\mathbf{\mathrm{\Downarrow}}\) & \(\mathbf{\mathrm{\Downarrow}}\) & - & - & \(\mathbf{\mathrm{\Downarrow}}\) & [9] \\ PET/PE & BDAC & \(\mathbf{\mathrm{\Downarrow}}\) & - & - & \(\mathbf{\mathrm{\Uparrow}}\) & \(\mathbf{\mathrm{\Downarrow}}\) & - & - & - & [11] \\ NW/Cellulose & BmimCl & \(\mathbf{\mathrm{\Uparrow}}\) & \(\mathbf{\mathrm{\Uparrow}}\) & - & \(\mathbf{\mathrm{\Uparrow}}\) & \(\mathbf{\mathrm{\Uparrow}}\) & \(\mathbf{\mathrm{\Uparrow}}\) & - & - & - & [10] \\ PBS/RS & DmimNTf\({}_{2}\) & \(\mathbf{\mathrm{\Uparrow}}\) & - & \(\mathbf{\mathrm{\Downarrow}}\) & \(\mathbf{\mathrm{\Uparrow}}\) & \(\mathbf{\mathrm{\Uparrow}}\) & \(\mathbf{\mathrm{\Uparrow}}\) & \(\mathbf{\mathrm{\Uparrow}}\) & - & [12] \\ PHBW/Cellulose & BmimCl & \(\mathbf{\mathrm{\Uparrow}}\) & \(\mathbf{\mathrm{\Uparrow}}\) & \(\mathbf{\mathrm{\Uparrow}}\) & \(\mathbf{\mathrm{\Uparrow}}\) & \(\mathbf{\mathrm{\Uparrow}}\) & \(\mathbf{\mathrm{\Uparrow}}\) & - & - & - & [15] \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}  
\(\mathbf{T_{4}}\) = degradation temperature, \(\mathbf{T_{8}}\) = glass transition temperature, \(\mathbf{T_{m}}\) = melting temperature, \(\mathbf{\mathrm{TS}}\) = tensile strength, \(\mathbf{\mathrm{TM}}\) = tensile modulus, \(\mathbf{\mathrm{TE}}\) = tensile extension, \(\mathbf{\mathrm{FS}}\) = flexural strength, \(\mathbf{\mathrm{FE}}\) = flexural extension, and \(\mathbf{\mathrm{IS}}\) = impact strength. \({}^{*}\) The symbol \({}^{*}\)\(\mathbf{\mathrm{\Downarrow}}\) corresponds to an increase in the properties and \({}^{*}\)\(\mathbf{\mathrm{\Downarrow}}\)\({}^{*}\) a decrease in the properties while “-” describes not available.  
\end{table} 
Table 7: Thermo-mechanical properties of polymer blends influenced by QASs and QAILs. extension, flexural strength, and flexural extension of the blends (Table 7). The degradation temperature of the blends increased by up to 2.3% compared to the neat PBS/RS blend. This is attributed to the high degradation temperature of DmimNTf\({}_{2}\) and the existence of intermolecular interactions between the blend components generated by DmimNTf\({}_{2}\). However, the melting temperature of the blends decreased because of the presence of DmimNTf\({}_{2}\), which improved the interfacial adhesion between PBS and RS [12]. In the compatible polymer blends, they commonly have the melting temperature lower than their individual components [14]. Thus, it can be considered that the PBS/RS blends containing DmimNTf\({}_{2}\) have good compatibility in comparison with the neat blend. Furthermore, the mechanical properties, such as tensile strength, tensile modulus, and flexural strength of the blends decreased since fewer loads are required for withstanding the exerted force. This is, of course, not unusual, the compatible polymer blends are not necessarily linked to the increase of the tensile and flexural strengths. Nevertheless, the tensile extension and flexural extension of the blends increased by up to 233% and 17%, respectively, in comparison with the blend without DmimNTf\({}_{2}\). This is caused by the improvement of the compatibility between PBS and RS since DmimNTf\({}_{2}\) acted as a compatibilizer [12]. BmimCl has also been applied for compatibilization of PHBV/Cellulose blends [15]. The application of BmimCl influenced the degradation temperature, glass transition temperature, melting temperature, tensile strength, tensile modulus, and tensile extension of the blends (Table 7).