Phase Control of Polyamide 6 via Extension‐Dominated Polymer Blend Reactive Extrusion

Abstract

Control of the crystalline phase transition of polymers is critical to improve mechanical properties and to achieve good levels of thermal properties in polymer engineering. Current methods control the transition process by using thermal methods that is, annealing above the glass transition temperature (Tg) to get the targeting crystalline phase. It requires precise control of the temperature and process time and is limited to a small scale. In contrast, a novel processing‐based method developed in our group by combining the use of reactive processing technique and extensional mixing elements (EME) allows different sizes of minor phase droplets in immiscible polymer blends to be achieved by controlling the degree of aggressiveness of the EME. The use of EME can confine polyamide crystalline structure into the γ‐phase from the α‐phase. The reactive processing benefits in stabilizing these droplets and in freezing the corresponding crystalline morphologies in droplets. Crystalline phase transition of the minor phase in these droplets is therefore observed as the size of droplet decreases from micro to submicron. Furthermore, phase transition can be precisely controlled by tuning additives and EME blocks. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 60:1019–1028, 2020. © 2020 Society of Plastics Engineers