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Reactive melt blending of modified polyamide and polypropylene: Assessment of compatibilization by fractionated crystallization and blend morphology
Author(s) -
Pompe Gisela,
Pötschke Petra,
Pionteck Jürgen
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
journal of applied polymer science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.575
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-4628
pISSN - 0021-8995
DOI - 10.1002/app.11374
Subject(s) - crystallization , materials science , compatibilization , polypropylene , oxazoline , polyamide , chemical engineering , particle size , phase (matter) , particle (ecology) , polymer chemistry , morphology (biology) , particle size distribution , polymer blend , composite material , polymer , chemistry , organic chemistry , copolymer , catalysis , oceanography , biology , engineering , genetics , geology
The melting and crystallization behavior of nonreactive and reactive melt‐mixed blends of polypropylene and carboxylic‐modified polyamide (mPA) as the dispersed phase was investigated. It was found that the size of the mPA particles decreases and the crystallization behavior of the mPA particles changes in dependence on the mixing time of the blends with oxazoline‐modified PP (mPP). This indicates that an in situ reaction occurs between the oxazoline groups of mPP and the carboxylic acid groups of mPA, resulting in a compatibilizing effect. In blends with mPP, the crystallization of the dispersed mPA phase splits into two steps. Below a critical particle size, the mPA does not crystallize at temperatures typical for bulk crystallization. These finely dispersed mPA particles crystallize coincidently with the PP phase, and this part increases with increasing mixing time. Analysis of the crystallization heat of both steps in connection with the particle volume distribution permits the estimation of the critical particle size to be ≤4 μm. These investigations showed that the effect of fractionated crystallization can be used to follow the morphology development and to evaluate the efficiency of compatibilizing interfacial reactions during processing. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 86: 3445–3453, 2002