Abstract
The mechanical and thermal characteristics and morphology of polyamide 6 (PA6)/isotactic polypropylene (iPP) blends (10/90 w/w) prepared with different processing procedures and incorporated with an aryl amide nucleating agent, a kind of β-nucleating agent (β-NA) for iPP, were investigated. The yield strength and flexural modulus of the blends decreased as β-NA was introduced into the blends, whereas the impact strength and elongation at break improved. The crystalline structures of the blends closely depended on (1) the processing conditions and (2) competition between the β-nucleating effect of β-NA and the α-nucleating effect of PA6 for iPP. Scanning electron microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, and X-ray diffraction were adopted to reveal the microstructures of the blends. At a low β-NA content (<0.1 wt %), the α-phase iPP dominated the blends, whereas the relative content of the β-phase iPP increased remarkably when the β-NA content was not less than 0.1 wt %. The processing conditions also showed profound influences on the supermolecular structures of iPP; this resulted in different mechanical properties of the blends. As for PA6, the crystallization behavior and crystalline structure did not exhibit obvious changes, but PA6 did play an important role in the epitaxial crystallization of iPP on PA6. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2011
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.