Use of oxazoline functionalized polyolefins and elastomers as compatibilizers for thermoplastic blends

Abstract

Oxazoline functionalized polypropylene, polyethylene, ethylene propylene copolymer (E/P), and styrene ethylene/butylene styrene copolymer (SEBS) were studied as compatibilizers in blends of polyolefins with polyesters and polyamides. The blends investigated were polypropylene/polyamide 6, polypropylene/polybutylene terephtalate, and polyethylene/polyamide 6, with engineering thermoplastic contents of 30 wt %. The blends were prepared in a twin-screw midiextruder, and injection molded with a mini-injection molding machine. The effect of compatibilizing on the morphology and mechanical properties of the blends was of interest. Compatibilization substantially improved the toughness of all tested blends. Their strength and stiffness remained at the level of the binary blends when polypropylene or polyethylene based compatibilizers were used, but slightly decreased with other compatibilizers. Morphological studies showed that the particle size was reduced, and the adhesion of the dispersed phase to the matrix improved by compatibilization. The effect of unfunctionalized polyethylene, polypropylene, E/P, and SEBS was also studied to compare the compatibilizers with them.

Chemical Modification of Oxidized Polyethylene Enables Access to Functional Polyethylenes with Greater Reuse

“…Chemical transformations of alcohols and ketones are some of the most fundamental transformations of organic chemistry; however, few methods to derivatize functional groups installed on polyolefins have been reported. ,− Methods to derivatize functionalized polyolefins commercially include ring-opening modification of grafted polyolefins containing maleimide, oxazoline, or glycidyl methacrylate groups introduced by radical-based functionalization strategies that substantially modify the molecular weight of the polymer. Furthermore, derivatizations of these grafted-polyethylenes are limited to reactions that tolerate high temperatures and nonpolar conditions in the polymer melt.…”

Binary and ternary blends of polyethylene, polypropylene, and polyamide 6,6: The effect of compatibilization on the morphology and rheology

“…Most studies on polymer blends deal with binary systems, and the objective is to obtain desirable properties,1–5 For this purpose, compatibilizing agents are often used. Such agents are added to enhance the compatibility of two immiscible blend components by reducing the interfacial tension to obtain finer dispersions and enhanced phase adhesion and, at the same time, to improve the processing stability of blends by reducing coalescence effects 6–8. In the pursuit of new polymeric blend materials, attention has also been drawn to systems with more than two phases.…”

Thermoplastic Toughening of a Semiaromatic Polyamide with an Amino-telechelic Polyethylene

“…In the case of PA/PE blends, both PE and PA have been considered as the majority component. − Hence, while some studies have focused on using dispersed − or fibrillar , PA domains to reinforce a PE matrix, in others, PE acts as a particulate toughener for a continuous PA matrix. ,,,,, In all of these cases, reactive compatibilization may be highly beneficial for both toughness and bulk tensile strength, , and has also been widely used for the reinforcement of bulk interfaces, , including interfaces between a semiaromatic PA and PE reaction bonded using PE- graft- MAH . However, although reactive compatibilization based on the formation of block or multiblock (segmented) polymers from macromolecular telechelics is known from the literature, ,, to the best of our knowledge, its use in PA/PE blends has not so far been reported.…”