Enhancement of Mechanical Properties of High Melt Flow Polypropylene & Ethylene - Octene Copolymer Blends

Abstract

In this current study, we have investigated and compared the improvement on the mechanical properties of high melt flow polypropylene copolymer (PPCP1) and ethylene-based α-olefin elastomer i.e. Polyolefin elastomer by incorporating intermediate melt flow index polypropylene copolymer (PPCP2IF) and changing the composition of ethylene octene impact modifier (E.O1 & E.O1/ E.O2/ HDPE) while keeping the matrix copolymer (PPCP1) as such. This paper reports the experimental issues associated with data measurement, and a procedure for determining properties by modeling and extrapolation is proposed. Impact modifiers explored are olefinic copolymers i.e. ethylene - octene elastomer having different melt flow index of, 5 gm/10 min (EO1) and ethylene - octene elastomer of 0.5 gm/10 min (EO2). The inclusive performance of high melt flow polypropylene (PPCP1) - EO1 & high melt flow polypropylene (PPCP1) - (E.O1/ E.O2/ HDPE) blends are compared in terms of various mechanical and rheological properties by varying intermediate M.F.I. PPCP (PPCP2IF) content from 0% - 20%. Results shows that at low PPCP2IF content (<10%), the intensification in impact strength is insignificant while extra high toughness observed in the range of 10% - 20 % PPCP2IF when added to PPCP1 & E.O1/ E.O2/ HDPE system . Presence of HDPE plays a huge role in preventing coalescence of the rubber particles leading to better and finer dispersion of the rubber particles. Our research will give a new combination of PPCP and POE blends for perfect balance of toughness and stiffness which is a very essential requirement for automotive TPO application