ABSTRACT:The effects of added maleated thermoplastic elastomer (TPEg) on rheological properties and morphologies of polypropylene (PP)/polyamide-6 (PA6) blends are examined. For comparison, non-maleated version (TPE) is also added to the above binary blends. The magnitude of complex viscosity and viscoelastic moduli of PP/ PA6/TPE blends gradually decrease with the content of TPE. However, for PP/PA6/TPEg blends, these above parameters increase dramatically with increasing content of reactive TPEg and shear-thinning behavior becomes more obvious. SEM micrographs show that the addition of TPEg effectively increases compatibility between PP and PA6 and results in a considerable decrease in the domain size of dispersed phase; whereas the ternary blends containing nonreactive TPE exhibit a typical characteristic of immiscible blends with a very coarse morphology. TEM results further reveal that for PP/PA6/TPEg blends, a core-shell structure consisting of PA6 particles encapsulated with POE are probably formed in PP matrix. [DOI 10.1295/polymj.36.754] KEY WORDS Polypropylene (PP) / Polyamide-6 / Rheological / Morphology / Interfacial / Adhesion / In recent decades, polypropylene/polyamide (PP/ PA) blends have received much attention because they combine the insensitivity to humid environments and easy processing of the former with the thermomechanical characteristics of the latter. Unfortunately; they are incompatible polymer pairs because of their different polarities and crystalline morphology. Therefore, much effort has been particularly devoted to the compatibilization of these blends. Functionalized polypropylenes, such as maleic anhydride (MA) grafted PP, are effective compatibilizer for these blends.1-5 However, high levels of toughness can only be achieved by addition of an appropriate rubber that can function as an impact modifier.6-10 Many studies have demonstrated that maleated rubbers such as styrene-ethylene/butylene-styrene triblock copolymers (SEBS-g-MA), [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19] ethylene propylene random copolymer (EPR-g-MA)13-15 and poly(octene-ethylene) (POE-g-MA)20 can effectively act as both impact modifier and compatibilizer for PP/PA6 blends.We have developed a maleic anhydride grafted thermoplastic elastomer (TPEg) and successfully used it as an impact modifier of polyamide-6 (PA6) 21,22 and the amorphous copolyester (PETG). [23][24][25] This thermoplastic elastomer is a mixture of poly(octene-ethylene) (POE) and semicrystalline polyolefin. Compared with widely used maleated rubbers such as SEBS and EPR, it possesses the following advantages: lower cost, finer dispersion, better processability, and compatibility with the PP matrix because of the incorporation of 40 wt % polyolefin plastics with a low melt viscosity into POE rubber.In a previous work, TPEg was employed to compatibilize and toughen PP/PA6 blends. 26 The addition of TPEg not only improved compatibility between PP matrix and PA6, resulting in a fine dispersion of PA6 in the PP matrix, but also significantly enhanced t...