The effects of 1-vinyl-3-butyl imidazole chloride (VBIM) on the structure and properties of Polyamide 6 (PA6) were investigated systematically. It was found that PA6/VBIM blends were homogeneous without phase separation. The glass transition temperature (Tg) of PA6 increased with small VBIM loadings followed by the decreasing in Tg with further increasing the amount of VBIM. The crystallization temperature decreased with the addition of VBIM because of the strong interactions between VBIM and the PA6 matrix, as well as the dilution effect when large amounts of VBIM was introduced to the matrix. According to rheological testing, small amounts of VBIM enhanced the storage modulus and melt viscosity of PA6. Tensile tests also show an increase in strength and modulus at relatively low loadings of VBIM. The strength of PA6 with only 1 wt % VBIM improved by 108% compared to that of neat PA6. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) investigations revealed that the ions of VBIM preferred to form hydrogen bonds with amide groups in PA6. Therefore, VBIM acts as physical connection point for the neighboring PA6 molecular chains. The specific interactions between VBIM and PA6 account not only for the enhanced melt viscosity of PA6, but also for the improved mechanical properties. Moreover, outstanding antistatic property was also observed. The surface resistivity of the sample with 1 wt % VBIM was 1.50 × 1010 Ω/sq, which means good electric dissipation property.

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The compatibilizer with double comb structure has a superior compatibilizing effect for immiscible polymer blends due to the symmetrical structure on both sides of main chains. Extensive study related to the architectural effects of compatibilizer on the compatibilization has mainly focused on the side chains. We investigated the influence of the compatibilizer-main-chain structure on the compatibilizing effect for immiscible poly(vinylidene fluoride)/poly(L-lactic acid) (PVDF/PLLA) blends. Two reactive-comb compatibilizers with polystyrene (PS) and polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) as main chains and PMMA as the side chains have been synthesized. PS is immiscible with both PLLA and PVDF, while PMMA is miscible with PVDF. It was found that both compatibilizers can improve the compatibility between the PLLA and PVDF, with different compatibilization effects. In the PVDF/PLLA (50/50) blends, 1 wt.% poly(styrene-co-glycidyl methacrylate)-graft-poly(methyl methacrylate) (RC–SG) tuned the morphology from the droplet-in-matrix structure to the co-continuous structure, while the blends with poly(methyl methacrylate-co-glycidyl methacrylate)-graft-poly(methyl methacrylate) (RC–MMG) kept the sea-island structure with even 3 wt.% loading. Moreover, RC–SG induces a wider co-continuous interval range than RC–MMG. The co-continuous structure obtained by RC–SG was also more stable than that by RC–MMG. It was further found that RC–SG-compatibilized PVDF/PLLA blends exhibit higher mechanical properties than the RC–MMG-compatibilized blends.