Blends of poly(2,6‐dimethyl‐1,4‐phenylene oxide)/polyamide 6 toughened by maleated polystyrene‐based copolymers: Mechanical properties, morphology, and rheology

Abstract

Poly(2,6-dimethyl-1,4-phenylene oxide)/ polyamide 6 (PPO/PA6 30/70) blends were impact modified by addition of three kinds of maleated polystyrene-based copolymers, i.e., maleated styrene-ethylene-butylene-styrene copolymer (SEBS-g-MA), maleated methyl methacrylate-butadiene-styrene copolymer (MBS-g-MA), and maleated acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymer (ABS-g-MA). The mechanical properties, morphology and rheological behavior of the impact modified PPO/PA6 blends were investigated. The selective location of the maleated copolymers in one phase or at interface accounted for the different toughening effects of the maleated copolymer, which is closely related to their molecular structure and composition. SEBS-g-MA was uniformly dispersed in PPO phase and greatly toughened PPO/PA6 blends even at low temperature. MBS-g-MA particles were mainly dispersed in the PA6 phase and around the PPO phase, resulting in a significant enhancement of the notched Izod impact strength of PPO/PA6 blends from 45 J/m to 281 J/m at the MBS-g-MA content of 20 phr. In comparison, the ABS-g-MA was mainly dispersed in PA6 phase without much influencing the original mechanical properties of the PPO/PA6 blend. The different molecule structure and selective location of the maleated copolymers in the blends were reflected by the change of rheological behavior as well.

Preparation and characterization of nanocomposites with polyphenylene oxide

“…In some cases, their addition even weakens the mechanical properties (Li et al, 2010;Barhoumi et al, 2008). First, copolymers themselves offer little benefit to the strength and stiffness of polymer blends because they tend to be "soft" materials.…”

Recovery of recycled acrylonitrile–butadiene–styrene, through mixing with styrene–ethylene/butylene–styrene

“…SBS and SIS are materials that are very common in SEBS, but there appear to be no studies into incorporation of SEBS in recycled polymers in order to recover their properties. Other examples are those of Li et al (2010), who studied mixtures of PPO/PA with SEBS-g-MA and ABS-g-MA and Yin et al (2007), who studied mixtures of PC/SAN with SEBS. These studies are not comparable to our own as other materials were used, however, they show that there is an improvement in properties with the addition of SEBS to the materials used.…”

Study of the influence of adding styrene-ethylene/butadiene-styrene in acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene and polyethylene blends

“…Other works worth mentioning are: Li et al , who studied poly(2,6‐dimethyl‐1,4‐phenylene oxide)/polyamide with SEBS grafted with maleic anhydride blends and Yin et al , who studied PC/styrene‐acrylonitrile with SEBS blends. These works are not comparable with the present one, but they gave the guidelines to improve the mechanical properties using SEBS.…”