Compatibilization of Polyamide-6/Syndiotactic Polystyrene Blends Using Styrene/Glycidyl Methacrylate Copolymers

Abstract

ABSTRACT:Blends of polyamide-6 (PA6) with syndiotactic polystyrene (sPS) were prepared using a series of styrene/glycidyl methacrylate (SG) copolymers as compatibilizers. These copolymers are miscible with sPS, and the epoxide units in SG are capable of reacting with PA6 end groups. These copolymers thus have the potential to form SGg-PA6 graft copolymers at the PA6/sPS interface during melt processing. This study focuses on the effects of functionality and concentration of the compatibilizer on the morphological, mechanical and crystallization behaviors of the blends. In general, SG copolymers are effective in reducing the sPS domain size and improving the interfacial adhesion. About 5 wt% glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) is the optimum content in SG copolymer that produces the best compatibilization. Both the strength and modulus of the blend have been improved on addition of the SG copolymers, accompanying a loss in toughness when higher concentration copolymer is added. Incorporation of SG compatibilizers to PA6/sPS blend has little influence on the crystallization behavior of PA6 component but resulted in a steady reduction in intensity of crystallinity peak of sPS and simultaneous crystallization of sPS with PA6 is observed.

Heterogeneous polyamide 66/syndiotactic polystyrene blends: Phase structure and thermal and mechanical properties

“…refs. 18,20, and46–48). The experimental data could be fitted with an empirical equation: where w 1 and w 2 are the weight fractions (the percentage of added compatibilizer was neglected) and C 1 and C 2 are the crystalline fractions of PA66 and sPS, respectively, and P 1 and P 2 are empirical interaction parameters expressing a negative effect of component 2 on the crystallinity of component 1 and vice versa (the rule of mixing, visualized as a straight line, requires P 1 = P 2 = 0, which reflects zero interaction of the components; otherwise, 0 ≤ P 1 , P 2 ≤ 1.)…”

“…To this end, sPS has been blended with ethylene–propylene rubber,13 thermoplastic polyurethane,14 a hydrogenated styrene–butadiene–styrene block copolymer (Kraton G1651),15 and a styrene–ethylene/butene–styrene block copolymer (Kraton G1652) 16. Moreover, blends of sPS with various thermoplastics have recently been prepared via melt mixing, such as sPS/high‐density polyethylene (HDPE)17, 18 and sPS/polyamide 6 (PA6) 19, 20. The latter has been mainly focused on the efficiency of styrene/glycidyl methacrylate copolymers as compatibilizers.…”

“…Although no interfacial adhesion has been found in blends without any compatibilizer, the addition of SEBS markedly promotes adhesion and leads to finer phase structures 17. sPS/PA6 blends have been efficiently compatibilized by sulfonated sPS19 or by styrene/glycidyl methacrylate copolymers 20. The compatibilizers reduce the sPS domain size and improve the interfacial adhesion.…”

Morphology, Tensile Strength and Thermal Behavior of Isotactic Polypropylene/Syndiotactic Polystyrene Blends Compatibilized by SEBS Copolymers

“…Though polymeric blends based on sPS and thermoplastic or elastomeric polymers have been reported in patent literature, [7][8][9][10][11] only a few research papers have been published. [12][13][14][15][16] Polymers produced by blending sPS and iPP are certainly an ideal combination to create new products with balanced properties providing that the advantage of one component can compensate the deficiencies of the other. Attempts have been made to make use of sPS to modify other polymers.…”