Influence of interfacial adhesion on toughening of polyethylene–octene elastomer/nylon 6 blends

✍ Scribed by Zhong-Zhen Yu; Yu-Chun Ou; Guo-Hua Hu

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1998
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 287 KB
• Volume: 69
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0021-8995
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1097-4628(19980829)69:9<1711::aid-app4>3.0.co;2-e

✦ Synopsis

Super-tough nylon 6 was prepared by using polyethylene-octene elastomer (POE) grafted with maleic anhydride as a toughener. The influences of maleating and a compatibilizer on interfacial adhesion and mechanical properties of nylon 6/POE blends were investigated in terms of mechanical testing, Molau tests, SEM observations, IR analyses, and rheological behavior. The results show that the unmodified POE has hardly any contribution to toughness of nylon 6, whereas the maleic anhydridegrafted POE (POE-g-MA) significantly improves the compatibility of POE with nylon 6 and sharply reduces its size in the nylon 6 matrix due to the in situ formation of a graft copolymer between POE-g-MA and nylon 6 during melt processing. With the POEg-MA, a transition from brittle to ductile occurs. Besides, the use of a compatibilizer in nylon 6/POE-g-MA system shifts the brittle-ductile transition curve to a lower POEg-MA content, which is attributed, in part, to the chain-extending effect of CE-96 on the nylon 6 matrix leading to further reduction of the sizes of POE-g-MA in the matrix, in part, to the coupling reaction of CE-96 between POE-g-MA and nylon 6.