Effects of compatibilizers and testing speeds on the mechanical properties of organophilic montmorillonite filled polyamide 6/polypropylene nanocomposites

Abstract

In the present study, the fracture properties of different types of organophilic montmorillonite (OMMT) filled polyamide 6/polypropylene nanocomposites was investigated. Two types of compatibilizers, i.e., maleic anhydride grafted polypropylene (PP‐g‐MA) and maleic anhydride grafted styrene‐ethylene/butylene‐styrene (SEBS‐g‐MA) were used to compatibilize these systems. The tensile properties were studied through tensile test at two different testing speeds; 50 and 500 mm/min whereas the fracture properties were determined using single‐edge‐notch‐3 point‐bending (SEN‐3PB) specimens at three different testing speeds; 1, 100, and 500 mm/min. The presence of both PP‐g‐MA and SEBS‐g‐MA compatibilizers improved the tensile and fracture properties of nanocomposites due to the compatibilizing effect of both compatibilizers. SEBS‐g‐MA compatibilizer seemed to be more effective in improving the fracture toughness of nanocomposites than PP‐g‐MA especially at high testing speed. This was due to the elastomeric nature of SEBS‐g‐MA, which can provide a better toughening effect than the relatively harder PP‐g‐MA. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 50:1493–1504, 2010. © 2010 Society of Plastics Engineers

Polyamide blend-based nanocomposites: A review

“…The presence of SEBS-g-MA improved the toughness and thermal properties of PA6/HDPE/modified clay nanocomposites. In another work by Kusmono et al [102], a SEBS-g-MA compatibilizer was more efficient in improving the fracture toughness of PA6/ PP/OMMT nanocomposites than a PP-g-MA compatibilizer at high testing speeds (i.e., tensile testing speed of 500 mm/min). Chen et al [21] prepared PA66/PA6/organoclay ternary nanocomposites by mixing PA6 and OMMT as a master-batch and then blending it with PA66 and different elastomers in a twin-screw extruder.…”

Effects of processing sequence on clay dispersion, phase morphology, and thermal and rheological behaviors of PA6‐HDPE‐clay nanocomposites

“…Polymer nanocomposites based on polyamide 6 (PA6) and polyolefin blends have generated much interest in recent years because of their readily tailored properties 1–8. PA6 itself is one of the most widely used engineering polymers because of its stiffness and strength, but PA6 has some inherent property shortcomings such as low heat distortion temperature (HDT), high moisture absorption, poor processibility, and it is brittle.…”

“…The underlying rationale of using layered clay as a filler lies in polymer chains penetrating into clay inter layers that are nanometers thick and several hundreds of nanometers wide, resulting in uniformly dispersed clay platelets (intercalated or exfoliated clay) in polymer matrix. The high aspect ratio of nano clay affords high degree of polymer‐surface interaction, resulting in greatly improved properties at lower loadings than conventional fillers 3–8…”

“…However, most literature on nonpolar PEs has shown that PEs, particularly high density polyethylene (HDPE), exhibit weak interaction with organoclay and so the HDPE‐clay composites prepared by conventional melt mixing only have intercalated clay structure 3, 7, 9–12. A few recent studies6–8, 12–15 have shown that the clay dispersion and phase morphology of PA6‐polyolefin‐clay nanocomposites are rather complicated, depending on the system composition, clay type, and compatibilizer. It has also been reported for a ternary polymer‐polymer‐clay nanocomposite that involves two chemically different polymers such as PA6 and PP, the intercalation of one or two polymers into clay interlayers and the overall phase morphology depend on the addition sequence and coalescence.…”

Toughening of PA6 nanocomposites by reactive acrylonitrile–butadiene–styrene core–shell rubber particles

“…PA6, owing to its polarity or strong hydrogen‐bonding ability, had some affinity for the pristine surface of clay, thus providing excellent properties to PA6 nanocomposites . A major issue on tailoring the morphology of the dispersed elastomer phase to achieve high levels of toughening by the in situ reaction that involves melt blending with a maleated elastomer wherein the grafted maleic anhydride .…”