Synthesis of polypropylene‐graft‐maleic anhydride compatibilizer and evaluation of nylon 6/polypropylene blend properties

Abstract

Polymer blends based on polyolefins are of a great interest owing to their broad spectrum of properties and practical applications. However, because of poor compatibilities of components, most of these systems generally exhibit high interfacial tension, a low degree of dispersion and poor mechanical properties. It is generally accepted that polypropylene (PP) and nylon 6 (N6) are not compatible and that their blending results in poor materials. The compatibility can be improved by the addition of a compatibilizer, and in this study PP was functionalized by maleic anhydride (MAH) in the presence of an optimized amount of dicumyl peroxide (DCP). The reaction was carried out in the molten state using an internal mixer. Then, once the compatibilizer polypropylene‐graft‐maleic anhydride (PP‐g‐MAH) was prepared, it was added at various concentrations (2.5–10 wt%) to 30/70 glass fibre reinforced N6 (GFRN6) PP, and the mechanical properties were evaluated. It was found that the incorporation of the compatibilizer enhanced the tensile properties (tensile strength and modulus) as well as the Izod impact properties of the notched samples. This was attributed to better interfacial adhesion as evidenced by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The optimum in these properties was achieved at a critical PP‐g‐MAH concentration. Copyright © 2005 Society of Chemical Industry

Multi functionalization of polypropylene with controlled degradation and its structure characterization

“…In order to enlarge its potential application filed, functionalization of iPP has been studied intensively by grafting of polar groups onto the PP backbone. The grafting of various monomers onto iPP have been reported by a number of groups, including acrylic acid (AA), 1,2 maleic anhydrides (MAH), [3][4][5][6][7][8][9] alkanethiols, 10 BMA, 11 glycidyl methacrylate (GMA). [12][13][14][15][16][17] In recent years, GMA used as a functionalized monomer has been received more and more attention, GMA is a very interesting monomer because of its bifunctional character: a free-radical reactive double bond together with an epoxy group that can react with a number of other functional groups such as carboxyl, hydroxyl, anhydride, and amine end groups.…”

Graft copolymerization of maleic anhydride onto low‐molecular‐weight polyisobutylene through solvothermal method

“…The graft polymerization of MAH onto polyolefin has been extensively studied. [7][8][9] Most of the grafting process is performed in the melt state in an extruder, that is, via reactive extrusion, [10][11][12][13] some in solution method, 14,15 and some in the solid phase method. 16,17 Considering that low molecular weight PIBs are in liquid state, reactive extrusion and solid graft are not appropriate.…”

Synthesis of a maleic anhydride grafted polypropylene–butadiene copolymer and its application in polypropylene/styrene–butadiene–styrene triblock copolymer/organophilic montmorillonite composites as a compatibilizer

“…2 By far, maleic anhydride (MA) is the most important molecule in this context, 3,4 and MA-modified PP has been prepared for commercial purposes and used to improve the polarity, 5 compatibility, and interaction of PP with other materials. 6,7 The grafting reaction is normally carried out by a radical mechanism:…”