Compatibilization of polyethylene/polyamide 6 blends with functionalized polyethylenes prepared with metallocene catalyst

Infrared spectra of polyamide-6 (PA6) with and without epoxidized natural rubber (ENR) are presented. The influence of ENR used as a compatibilizer on the morphologies, crystallizability, mechanical properties, and thermal behavior of the polyamide-6/polyolefins (PO) blends are studied. The infrared spectra suggest that under normal processing conditions, the carboxyl end groups of PA6 could chemically react in situ with the epoxy groups of ENR, and ester groups are created. This means that the PA6-ENR grafting copolymer could be obtained during processing. All the morphological characterizations and thermal analyses show that the compatibility of PA6/PO blends is obviously improved by ENR because the copolymer increases the interaction between PA6 and PO. It is also found that the toughness of PA6/PO blends increase significantly after using ENR, while the tensile strength and the softening temperature of PA6/PO blends have almost no change.

Studies on polyamide‐6/polyolefin blend system compatibilized with epoxidized natural rubber

Xie¹,

Yang²,

Li³

et al. 2003

Metallocene‐based functionalized polyolefins as compatibilizers in polyolefin nanocomposites

Motha

Hippi

Hakala

et al. 2004

This article reports a study of some functionalized polyolefins evaluated as compatibilizers in polyethylene nanocomposites. The functionalized polymers were prepared by direct metallocene-mediated copolymerizations of ethylene and a functional comonomer. The prepared nanocomposites were evaluated for mechanical and barrier property enhancement. A good combination of mechanical and barrier properties was obtained with the metallocenebased functionalized polyethylene. The toughness-stiffness balance was better than or comparable to that achieved with conventional functionalized polymers such as maleic anhydride grafted polyethylene. The results also indicated that these metallocene-based functionalized polyolefins, when used as compatibilizers, could have relatively higher molar masses and lower functionality than those of conventional post-reactor-modified compatibilizers, and so the drawbacks associated with the latter could be avoided. Their inherent properties could also further improve the final nanocomposite properties. This was attributed to the more homogeneous nature of metallocene-catalyzed polymers in comparison with post-reactor-modified products.

The effect of zinc oxide addition on the compatibilization efficiency of maleic anhydride grafted high‐density polyethylene compatibilizer for high‐density polyethylene/polyamide 6 blends

Chatreenuwat

Nithitanakul

Grady

2006

A high-density polyethylene with grafted maleic anhydride units has been investigated as a compatibilizer for high-density polyethylene with polyamide 6. The material acts as an effective compatibilizer, causing a marked reduction in dispersed phase size as well as an increase in tensile strength and toughness. Compatibilizer also affects the glass-transition temperature, crystallization kinetics, and amount of crystalline material for certain blend compositions. The addition of zinc cations, which are effective in increasing ethylene-acid copolymer compatibilizer performance in low-density polyethylene/polyamide blends, has little, if any, effect on compatibilizer performance in these high-density polyethylene/polyamide blends.