In situ control of co‐continuous phase morphology for PS/PS‐co‐TMI/PA6 blend

Abstract

The emulsification efficiency of PS-co-TMI, a copolymer polymerized by styrene and 3-isopropenyl-a,a-dimethylbenzene isocyanate (TMI), for polystyrene (PS)/polyamide 6 (PA6) blend was studied. During the mixing process, an effective emulsifier PS-g-PA6 was generated, which was demonstrated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. PS-g-PA6 generated by PS-co-TMI with high TMI content was found to contain some unreacted isocyanate active groups which reduced using efficiency of PS-co-TMI. Irrespective of TMI content in PS-co-TMI, the dosage of PS-co-TMI reached 20 wt %, unreacted PS-co-TMI was detected. These results indicated that reactive emulsification limits for both active groups' content and reactive precursors' dosage. After the rational addition of PS-co-TMI into PS/PA6 system, phase sizes of co-continuous structure were reduced conspicuously. However, co-continuous structure was evolved into matrix-dispersed structure while the dosage of PS-co-TMI reached 20 wt %. Emulsification efficiencies of PS-co-TMI with different TMI contents, 2.2, 4.1, and 7.5 wt %, were compared. The results revealed PS-co-TMI with 2.2 wt % TMI content had the highest reactive emulsification efficiency because of the blockcopolymer-inclined emulsifier generated in the mixing process.

Phase morphology evolution and compatibilization of immiscible polyamide 6/polystyrene blends using nano‐montmorillonite

“…Polyamide 6 (PA6) and polystyrene (PS) have very good complementary effects on the performances of their blends, and more and more researchers have shown interest in the relationship between their morphological structure and properties . The most common preparation method has been direct melting blend.…”