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Relationship between branch length and the compatibilizing effect of polypropylene‐ g ‐polystyrene graft copolymer on polypropylene/polystyrene blends
Author(s) -
Wang Lu,
Tan Haiying,
Gong Jiang,
Tang Tao
Publication year - 2014
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.40126
Subject(s) - polypropylene , copolymer , polystyrene , materials science , crystallization , polymer chemistry , viscosity , particle size , composite material , adhesion , polymer blend , rheology , polymer science , chemical engineering , polymer , engineering
Three polypropylene‐ g ‐polystyrene (PP‐ g ‐PS) graft copolymers with the same branch density but different branch lengths were evaluated as compatibilizing agents for PP/PS blends. The morphological and rheological results revealed that the addition of PP‐ g ‐PS graft copolymers significantly reduced the PS particle size and enhanced the interfacial adhesion between PP and PS phases. Furthermore, it is verified that the branch length of PP‐ g ‐PS graft copolymer had opposite effects on its compatibilizing effect: on one hand, increasing the branch length could improve the compatibilizing effect of graft copolymer on PP/PS blends, demonstrated by the reduction of PS particle size and the enhancement of interfacial adhesion; on the other hand, increasing the branch length would increase the melt viscosity of PP‐ g ‐PS graft copolymer, which prevented it from migrating effectively to the interface of blend components. Additionally, the crystallization and melting behaviors of PP and PP/PS blends were compared. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014 , 131 , 40126.