Morphology, thermal behavior, and mechanical properties of PA1010/PP and PA1010/PP-g-GMA blends

The modification of polypropylene (PP) was accomplished by melt grafting glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) on its molecular chains. The resulting PP-g-GMA was used to prepare binary blends of polyamide 1010 (PA1010) and PP-g-GMA. Different blend morphologies were observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) according to the nature and content of PA1010 used. Comparing the PA1010/PP-g-GMA and PA1010/PP binary blends, the size of the domains of PP-g-GMA were much smaller than that of PP at the same compositions. It was found that mechanical properties of PA1010/PP-g-GMA blends were obviously better than that of PA1010/PP blends, and the mechanical properties were significantly influenced by wetting conditions for uncompatibilized and compatibilized blends. A different dependence of the flexural modulus on water was found for PA1010/PP and PA1010/PP-g-GMA. These behaviors could be attributed to the chemical interactions between the two components and good dispersion in PA1010/PP-g-GMA blends. Thermal and rheological analyses were performed to confirm the possible chemical reactions taking place during the blending process. (C) 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Morphological, thermal, and mechanical properties of polypropylene/polycarbonate blend

This work deals with the effect of compatibilizer on the morphological, thermal, rheological, and mechanical properties of polypropylene/polycarbonate (PP/ PC) blends. The blends, containing between 0 to 30 vol % of polycarbonate and a compatibilizer, were prepared by means of a twin-screw extruder. The compatibilizer was produced by grafting glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) onto polypropylene in the molten state. Blend morphologies were controlled by adding PP-g-GMA as compatibilizer during melt processing, thus changing dispersion and interfacial adhesion of the polycarbonate phase. With PP-g-GMA, volume fractions increased from 2.5 to 20, and much finer dispersions of discrete polycarbonate phase with average domain sizes decreased from 35 to 3 mu m were obtained. The WAXD spectra showed that the crystal structure of neat PP was different from that in blends. The DSC results suggested that the degree of crystallization of PP in blends decreased as PC content and compatibilizer increased. The mechanical properties significantly changed after addition of PP-g-GMA. (C) 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Morphology and mechanical properties of PP/HMWPE blends

Mechanical properties and morphology of blends of polypropylene (PP) with high molecular weight polyethylene (HMWPE) prepared by coprecipitation from xylene solution are investigated. Compared to blends of PP with commercial high-density polyethylene (HDPE), the mechanical properties of the blends of PP/HMWPE are much superior to those of PP/HDPE blends. Not only is the tensile strength stronger, but also the elongation at break is much higher than that of the PP/HDPE blends of the same composition. These differences increase with increasing HMWPE and HDPE content. Scanning electron microscopy of the fracture surface resulting from the tensile tests shows that the compatibility in PP/HMWPE blends is much better than that in PP/HDPE blends. This is most likely attributable to the enhanced chain entanglement of HMWPE with the PP in the amorphous phase due to the lower crystallinity, owing to the high molecular weight of the HMWPE, and a much more flexible chain. The thermal behavior and spherulite morphology of both blends are also investigated.

Properties of ethylene-propylene copolymer/PA-1010 blends using ethylene-propylene copolymer-graft-acrylic acid as a compatibilizing agent

The modification of ethylene-propylene copolymer (EP) has been accomplished by radical EP-graft-acrylic acid (EP-g-AA) has been used to obtain ternary PA/EP/EP-g-AA blends by melt mixing. Different blend morphologies were observed by scanning electron microscopy; the domain size of the EP-dispersed phase in the polyamide 1010 matrix of compatibilized blends decreased compared with that of uncompatibilized blends. It is found that EP-g-AA used as the third component has a profound effect on the mechanical properties of the resulting blends. This behavior has been attributed to serious chemical interactions taking place between the two components. Thermal analysis shows that some thermal properties of PA in compatibilized PA/EP/EP-g-AA changed because of chemical reactions taken place during the blending process. Wide angle x-ray diffraction measurements also confirmed this result. (C) 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Compatibilization effect of graft copolymer on immiscible polymer blends .2. LLDPE/PS/LLDPE-g-PS systems

The compatibilizing effect of graft copolymer, linear low density polyethylene-g-polystyrene (LLDPE-g-PS), on immiscible LLDPE/PS blends has been studied by means of C-13 CP-MAS NMR and DSC techniques. The results indicate that LLDPE-g-PS is an effective compatibilizer for LLDPE/PS blends, and the compatibilizing effect of LLDPE-g-PS on LLDPE/PS blends depends on the PS grafting yield and molecular structure of the compatibilizers and also on the composition of the blends. It was found that LLDPE-g-PS chains connect two immiscible components, LLDPE and PS, through solubilization of chemically identical segments of LLDPE-g-PS into the noncrystalline region of the LLDPE and PS domain, respectively. Meanwhile, LLDPE-g-PS chains connect the crystalline region of LLDPE by isomorphism, resulting in an obvious change in the crystallization behavior of LLDPE. (C) 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

MODIFICATION OF PP/HDPE BLENDS BY PP-PE SEQUENTIAL POLYMERIZATION PRODUCT

The morphology and mechanical properties of polypropylene/high-density polyethylene (PP/HDPE) blends in a wide range of compositions modified by a sequential Ziegler-Natta polymerization product (PP-PE) have been investigated. PP-PE contains multiple components such as PP, ethylene-propylene copolymer (EPC), and high molecular weight polyethylene (HMWPE). The effects of PP-PE on the mechanical properties and morphology of the PP/HDPE blends are the aggregative results of all its individual components. Addition of PP-PE to the blends not only improved the tensile strength of the blends, but the elongation at break increased linearly while the moduli were nearly unchanged. Morphological studies show that the adhesion between the two phases in all the blends of different compositions is enhanced and the dispersed domain sizes of the blends are reduced monotonously with the increment of the content of PP-PE. PP-PE has been demonstrated to be a more effective compatibilizer than EPC. Based on these results, it can be concluded that the tensile strength of the blends depends most on the adhesion between the two phases and the elongation at break depends most on the domain size of the dispersed component. (C) 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

STUDIES ON MORPHOLOGY OF SOLUTION-CAST FILMS OF IPP/APP BLENDS

Morphologies of solution-cast films of iPP/aPP blends have been studied by means of electron microscopy and X-ray scattering techniques. Microscopic observation showed that solution-cast film of iPP consists of two kinds of structural regions, cross-hatched and lath-liked structures. The addition of small amount of aPP (less than or equal to 30%) into iPP did not change iPP's characteristic crystallization behavior. It is noticed that when the content of aPP in its blend was over 80%, iPP formed a very loosely woven-like network composed of very long lamellae with wide-angle lamellar branchings. The X-ray data showed that aPP did not cocrystallize with iPP.

COMPATIBILIZATION AND STRUCTURE OF POLY(PROPYLENE) NYLON-12 BLENDS

In this paper, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD) were used to study the structure and compatibilization of poly(propylene) (PP)/nylon-12 (PA 12) blends. The compatibilizatio

EPITAXIAL CRYSTALLIZATION OF SYNDIOTACTIC POLYPROPYLENE ON UNIAXIALLY ORIENTED POLYETHYLENE

The epitaxial crystallization of syndiotactic polypropylene (sPP) on uniaxially oriented polyethylene (PE) has been investigated by electron microscopy and electron diffraction. It is found that the sPP lamellae grow epitaxially on the PE substrate film with the preference in sPP for the b axis as the fast growth direction. Instead of 50-degrees as in the system of isotactic polypropylene with PE, the molecular chains of the sPP crystals are approximately +/- 37-degrees inclined to the chain direction of PE.

EPITAXIAL CRYSTALLIZATION OF HDPE ON IPP IN HDPE/IPP BLENDS

Unique crystalline morphologies of solution-cast films of HDPE/iPP blends were investigated by means of transmission electron microscopy (TEM), electron diffraction, metal shadowing and specimen-tilt techniques. The unique morphologies come from an epitaxial crystallization of HDPE on iPP. The contact planes of the two kinds of crystals are (100) of HDPE and (010) of iPP, while the intercrossing angle between their chain axes is about 50-degrees. The HDPE existed with different crystalline morphologies in the two kinds of crystalline regions of iPP spherulites, i.e. cross-hatched and single-crystal-type structures. Based on structural analysis, two models of epitaxial growth of HDPE on iPP are proposed.

FACTOR-ANALYSIS APPLIED TO X-RAY-DIFFRACTION DIAGRAMS OF POLYMER BLENDS

The feasibility of applying the method of factor analysis to X-ray diffraction diagrams of binary blends of polypropylene and ethylene-propylene-diene terpolymer (PP/EPDM) was examined. The result of mathematical treatment was satisfactory. The number of scattering species and their concentrations in six kinds of PP/EPDM blends were determined. The separation of the spectral peaks of each species in the blends, contributing spectral intensities, was carried out.

功能化聚丙烯及其与聚对苯二甲酸丁二醇酯共混物的制备及结构性能研究

本工作通过电子束预辐照处理和反应挤出方法，制备了丙烯酸功能化预辐照聚丙烯rPP-g-AA，采用化学滴定和红外光谱方法均证明接枝共聚物的存在，同时确定了预辐照剂量和单体浓度对接枝率的影响：（1）当单体浓度一定时，接枝率随预辐照剂量的增加而增加并逐渐达到平台值；（2）当预辐照剂量固定时，单体浓度在0～4.0wt%范围内，接枝率几乎呈线性增加。研究发现，丙烯酸(AA)接枝链能起到异相成核作用而促进预辐照聚丙烯(rPP)的结晶过程，但却不改变结晶晶型；虽然接枝反应可以部分抑制降解反应，但相对于原料聚丙烯(PP)，接枝产物的力学性能仍大大下降；因此提出的反应机理认为接枝反应主要是通过链断裂降解反应形成的端自由基引发的，从而形成了以端基接枝为主的产物。 为了控制PP接枝过程中的严重降解，本工作首次提出了均相和异相引发接枝反应的原理，即采用部分rPP和预辐照聚乙烯(rPE)分别作为PP接枝反应的均相和异相“引发剂”，经反应挤出制备丙烯酸功能化聚丙烯PP-g-AA。对于均相引发体系：（1）当rPP用量为20phr时，PP-g-AA的接枝率已经达到rPP-g-AA的水平，而且降解反应得到有效控制；（2）和PP/rPP-g-AA共混物的对比研究证明，均相引发接枝产物不但接枝率明显提高，而且接枝分布非常均匀；（3）由此提出均相引发主要是发生rPP和PP分子间夺氢反应并形成以基体PP接枝为主的产物，而rPP分子内夺氢反应形成的接枝产物rPP-g-AA只占较少比例。对于异相引发体系： （1）通过红外光谱表征及接枝率计算得出异相引发接枝产物的接枝率比相应的PP/ rPE-g-AA共混物略高；（2）由于rPE及rPE-g-AA对基体PP的结晶没有影响，通过异相引发接枝产物中PP的结晶温度升高直接验证了异相引发接枝反应的实现；（3）提出的机理认为异相引发主要发生在rPE的分子内夺氢并形成rPE-g-AA，造成rPE引发的PP分子间夺氢反应形成PP-g-AA产物的比例下降。 本工作还详细研究了rPP预辐照剂量、rPP用量和单体浓度对均相引发反应的影响。得到的结果如下：（1）高预辐照剂量导致了接枝率下降的“假相”是由于形成的微凝胶造成的；（2）rPP用量的增大在提高接枝率的同时也导致降解反应的逐渐增强；（3）单体浓度的增加导致接枝率的逐步提高并最终达到最大值，而且可能导致部分微凝胶的产生；（4）接枝没有破坏PP-g-AA结晶的完善性和晶型，却能促进了晶体在（040）晶面的生长并可能产生部分横晶形态；（5）PP-g-AA和金属能形成良好的粘接作用。 以上述制备的rPP-g-AA和PP-g-AA增容PP/聚对苯二甲酸丁二醇酯(PBT)共混体系，发现高分子量的PP-g-AA比低分子量的rPP-g-AA的增容效果要好，因此认为PP-g-AA和PBT通过酯化反应形成的长链接枝共聚物PP-g-PBT对PBT相的分散和界面作用增强更加有效。而随着增容剂PP-g-AA比例的增加，原位反应生成的PP-g-PBT逐渐增加，使得PBT相分散和界面增强效果更加显著，因此共混物的力学性能也更佳；DSC研究发现，随着PBT相尺寸减小到1μm以下，PBT出现了结晶受限行为。 将引发剂rPP和单体AA加入到PP/PBT共混体系中实现了一步法反应增容，得到共混物的扭矩、相形态、力学性能都和分步法增容共混物的结果几乎相同，这说明一步法共混能使PBT产生良好分散并得到性能较佳的产物，从而为高分子合金材料制备提供了一种简单有效的方法。 采用该方法对AA、马来酸酐(MAH)和甲基丙烯酸甘油酯(GMA)三种单体的接枝和增容反应对比研究证明，AA的效果最好，MAH次之，而GMA的效果最差，分析认为，AA和MAH通过接枝反应形成PP-g-AA和PP-g-MAH，随后再和PBT发生酯化增容反应形成PP-g-MAH-PBT共聚产物，而GMA首先和PBT反应形成PBT-GMA，而后由长链PBT-GMA发生接枝反应生成PP-g-GMA-g-PBT，但是这种接枝反应的效率很低，由此造成增容效果较差。