On rheology–morphology correlation of polypropylene/poly(trimethylene terephthalate) blend nanocomposites

Abstract

A correlation between rheology and morphology of polypropylene/poly(trimethylene terephthalate) blend nanocomposites was addressed. Organoclay particles were preferentially localized either at the interface or inside the polyester phase depending upon affinity the level and exerted compatibilizing role by making a finer morphology. The functional compatibilizer was found to be highly efficient in giving rise to an enhanced interfacial adhesion and uniform morphology. The compatibilizer also expanded the clay gallery space by increasing its interlayer distance. Rheological measurements showed that nanoclay and compatibilizer contribute to the complex viscosity of the system considerably. Also, an upturn was detected at low angular frequencies ascribed to a secondary structure formation. Similar behavior was also found when storage shear modulus was studied, where at low frequencies a terminal plateau of yield stress character appeared that was connected with some intermolecular networks. This was further supported via relaxation time spectra wherein additional peaks due to interface emerged at low frequencies.

Cost-Effective Sustainable Synthesis of High-Performance High-Molecular-Weight Poly(trimethylene terephthalate) by Eco-Friendly and Highly Active Ti/Mg Catalysts

“…The high extensibility of PTT fiber makes it a promising candidate as elastic fiber. For its high cost, PTT is often blended with other polymers including PET, polypropylene, or polyamide. − DuPont offers a LYCRA brand product called T400 using side-by-side conjugation spinning of PTT and PET. Besides, PTT demonstrates good performance in engineering plastic application.…”

Effect of organoclay on the properties of maleic-anhydride grafted polypropylene and poly(methyl methacrylate) blend

“…This is evidenced by the presence of plateau region at low frequency of up to at least 1 rad/s for B2 sample, while a total plateau was observed in the case of BNC2 sample at all frequency studied and the slope of the curve is almost zero. This observation is an indication of network‐like structure formation involving the assembly of individual platelets of silicate layers . At higher frequencies, where the allocated time for the relaxation process is tighter, the intermolecular networks are terminated owing to weak stability.…”

An Insight into Phenomenology of Polytrimethylene Terephthalate Fibrillation

“…The neat PTT shows an S‐shape curve over the frequencies. This behavior may originate from its higher elasticity of the neat PTT which shows less frequency dependency at 240 °C 35,42…”

“…This behavior may originate from its higher elasticity of the neat PTT which shows less frequency dependency at 240 °C. [35,42] Complex viscosities of the samples are shown in Figure 4b. As can be seen, increasing the PTT content of as-extruded blend led to enhancement in the complex viscosity in all range of frequencies, as a consequence of increasing the PTT content which is more pronounced at low frequencies.…”

“…Mainly three test methods have been used to analyze the influence of fibrillation on melt viscoelastic properties of the blend systems: melt flow rate (MFR), [25] extensional rheometry, [26][27][28] and oscillatory rheometry. [8,13,[29][30][31][32][33][34] To the best of our collection, most of the works have concentrated on reporting the typical characteristics of fibrillar systems observed as a secondary plateau in a low-frequency region, which is shared with nanocomposite polymers containing nano-fillers [35] and there is a lack of information about specific steps of fibrillation and its influence on elasticity of the blend system which is under control of fibril polymorphism.…”