Thermotropic liquid crystalline polymer (Rodrun LC5000)/polypropylene in situ composite films: rheology, morphology, molecular orientation and tensile properties

Abstract

In situ composite films were prepared by a two-step method. First, polypropylene and thermotropic liquid crystalline polymer (TLCP), Rodrun LC5000 (80 mol% p-hydroxy benzoic acid (HBA)/20 mol% polyethylene terephthalate (PET)), were melt blended in a twin-screw extruder and then fabricated by extrusion through a mini-extruder as cast film. Rheological behavior of the blends, morphology of the extruded strands and films, and tensile properties of the in situ composite films were investigated. Rheological behavior of the blends at 295 °C studied using a plate-and-plate rheometer revealed a substantial reduction of the complex viscosity with increasing TLCP content, and all specimens exhibited shear thinning behavior. Over the angular frequency range of 0.6–200 rad/s, the viscosity ratio (dispersed phase to matrix phase) was found to be very low, in the range of 0.03–0.07. Morphologies of the fracture surfaces of the blend extrudates and the film surfaces etched in permanganic solution were investigated by scanning electron microscope (SEM). The TLCP droplets in the extruded strands were seen with a progressive deformation into fibrillar structure when TLCP content was increased up to 30 wt%. In the extruded films, TLCP fibrils with increasing aspect ratio (length to width) were observed with increasing TLCP concentration. Orientation functions of each component were determined by X-ray diffraction using a novel separation technique. It was observed that the Young's modulus in machine direction of the extruded film was greatly improved with increasing TLCP loading, due to the increase in fiber aspect ratio and also molecular orientation.