Mechanical properties of PP/PA blends in addition with PP-g-MAH with different PP molecular weight and MAH content

The mechanical properties and morphological changes of PP/PA6/PP-g-MAH blends were investigated. In particular, various kinds of PP-g-MAH, which have a series of different Mw of PP and MAH content, were investigated. From the tensile test results of PP/PA6 blends, although the elongation at break and yield stress can be improved by adding PP-g-MAH, modulus slightly decreased. In particular, elongation at break of PP/PA in addition with PP-g-MAH increased twentyfold from 27.0% (without PP-g-MAH) to 570%. On the basis of Charpy impact test results, the impact strength can also be improved by adding PP-g-MAH. From SEM observation, it was found that the diameter of the dispersed PA6 phase in PP matrix was getting much smaller with PP-g-MAH content. From the TEM observation, the boundary of the PA phase in PP/PA blends without PP-g-MAH compatibilizer can be observed clearly, but it becomes hard to see the boundary part of the PA phase in PP/PA blend with compatibilizer. Furthermore, when comparing the inside of the PA phase, small amount of PP phase can be observed in the PA phase of PP/PA blend with compatibilizer. Here, we defined a parameter, Comprehensive Mechanical Property Factor (CMPF), which can be calculated by multiple each mechanical property (elongation at break, yield stress, modulus and impact strength) against each maximum value, and it was found that CMPF has a good correlation with the diameter of PA6 phase. In conclusion, an optimum mechanical property of PP/PA6 can be obtained by using PP-g-MAH with Mw around 35,000 ∼ 50,000 g mol−1 and MAH content around 2.0 ∼ 3.5 %.