Polypropylene copolymer (PP-cp) has a large number of applications and is preferred over the homopolymer due to its higher impact strength. These impact properties can be further improved by blending with polyolefinic elastomer (POE). Blends were prepared by using commercially available POE (Engage® EG 8150, Dupont-Dow Elastomers), by varying POE content up to 25%. The effect of processing conditions on the properties of the blends was studied. Although impact strength increased, flexural modulus decreased. Dicumyl peroxide caused chain scission of PP-cp rather than crosslinking of POE. The results seem to indicate that there may be optimum concentration of POE around 10% for the polymers used in the present work. The grade of PP-cp used in this work contained about 10 -11% ethylene content (rubber phase around 17-18%). These results match with general observations that brittletough transition for PP occurs when total elastomer content is about 20 -25%.

Waste poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) from thin bottles was blended with acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) copolymer in different proportions, up to 10 wt %. Styrene maleic anhydride (SMA) copolymer was used as a compatibilizer. The tensile strength and heat deflection temperature of the blend were higher than that of virgin ABS. Flexural modulus remained unaffected, although a slight decrease in impact property was observed.

A three-phase water-soluble nanocomposite of single wall carbon nanotube/silver nanoparticle hybrid fibers embedded in sulfonated polyaniline has been synthesized by a simple chemical solution mixing process. The nanocomposite has been characterized by high resolution electron microscopy, X-ray diffractometry, FTIR spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and thermogravimetric analysis. Optical and electrical characteristics of the nanocomposite have been determined by UV-vis absorption spectroscopy, photoluminescence spectroscopy, and four-probe electrical conductivity measurement. A surface plasmon absorption band obtained around 460 nm indicates the presence of silver nanoparticles in the composite. The optical band gap calculation for sulfonated polyaniline vis-a-vis the nanocomposite supported the conductivity measurement. Over 1300 times increase in DC electrical conductivity has been observed for the three-phase nanocomposite, with a filler loading of 20 wt %, at 306 K. This observation could be explained by Mott's variable range hopping model considering a three-dimensional conduction. Such a nanocomposite has immense potential for use as a cathode material in lithium-ion batteries and supercapacitors.