Starch-g-poly (vinyl alcohol) as Compatibilizer for Reducing the Phase Separation Rates of Polyvinyl Alcohol/Cornstarch Pastes

Starch- g-poly(vinyl alcohol) as a compatibilizing agent for reducing the phase separation rates of polyvinyl alcohol/starch pastes has been investigated by blending and dissolving the two polymers in distilled water. The separation rates were quantitatively evaluated by the term of initiul demixing time. The grafted starches, with a series of grafting ratios, were prepared by grafting a number of vinyl acetate onto granular cornstarch in aqueous dispersion and then alcoholating in methanol. It was found that the addition of small amounts of starch- g poly (vinyl alcohol ) in the size compositions can effectively decrease the separation rates of the blended pastes in comparison to pure starch/PVA ones.Moreover, the influence of the grafting ratio, starch content, and PVA variety on the separation rates was also studied.

EFFECTS OF COMPATIBILIZERS ON THE MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF LOW DENSITY POLYETHYLENE/LIGNIN BLENDS

Low density polyethylene(LDPE)/lignin blends were prepared using melt blending.Two kinds of compatibilizers, ethylene-vinylacetate(EVA) which is softer than LDPE and polyethylene grafted with maleic anhydride(PE-g-MA) which is harder than LDPE were used to improve the interfacial adhesion.Scanning electron microscope(SEM) was used to investigate the dispersion of lignin in LDPE matrix.The results showed that both of the compatibilizers could improve the interaction between the low density polyethylene and l...

Effectiveness of Compatibilizer on Mechanical Properties of Recycled PET Blends with PE, PP, and PS

Recycled PET (R-PET) is well known to exhibit brittle behavior in the presence of notches and indicated the low heat distortion temperature. In addition, it is hard to prevent some impurities such as cap or label of the bottle that mixed into R-PET during the recycling process. In this paper, the effect of the amounts and kinds of compatibilizers on the morphological characteristics and mechanical performance of recycled poly(ethylene terephthalate) (R-PET) compounded with polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), and polystyrene (PS) was investigated. From the results, with an increase in the glycidyl methacrylate modified PE (EGMA) additive contents, in the increment of the Izod impact strength of Composite-G was obtained. In addition, it was found that the miscibility of Composite-G was improved with increasing the amount of EGMA, which indicated from the result of SEM images.

IN SITU COMPATIBILIZATION OF LDPE/NYLON-6 BLEND USING LOW MOLECULAR WEIGHT INTERFACIAL AGENT AS A CHEMICAL COMPATIBILIZER

In situ, compatibilization of low density polyethylene (LDPE) (30%) and nylon-6 (70%) blends through one-step reactive extrusion using t-BuOOH as an initiator and low molecular weight interfacial agents as compatibilizers was studied. The compatibilizer contained a long chain hydrocarbon, double bond and two polar functional groups which was capable of reacting with both LDPE and nylon-6 in the presence of initiator to form a copolymer at the interface of the two polymer phases. The extruded blends exhibited significant enhancement in their compatibility based on morphological, thermal analysis and mechanical studies. The effect of the hydrocarbon chain length and structure of the functional group of the compatibilizer was also examined. It was found that blends prepared by using the compatibilizer containing longer hydrocarbon chain and amide group had better mechanical properties.

Synthesis and Characterization of Compatibilizer TLCP-b-PC

The compatibilizer (TLCP-b-PC) of 60PHB/PET thermotropic liquid crystal polymer (TLCP) and polycarbonate (PC) blend system was prepared. The synthesis and characterization of the compatibilizer as well as its effects on the microscopic morphology and the mechanical properties of the TLCP/PC blend system were studied with a series of analysis ways, such as Soxhlet extraction, infrared absorption spectroscopy,electron microscopy, etc. It is shown that the ideal reaction condition for preparing the compatibilizer is:the reaction temperature of 275℃, the reaction time of 20minutes and without catalyst. And the compatibilizer can improve the compatibility of the blending system of 60PHB/PET and PC.

Which is More Efficient as Compatibilizer： Di-block or Multiblock Copolymer？

Monte Carlo simulations were used to investigate the compatibilizing behaviors of multi-block copolymers with different architectures in A/B/（block copolymer） ternary blends. The volume fraction of homopolymer A, employed as the dispersed phase, was 19%. The simulations illustrate how a di- or multi-block copolymer aggregates at the interfaces and influences the phase behaviour of such incompatible polymer blends. The di-block copolymer chains tend to ＂stand＂ on the interface whereas the multi-block chains lie on the interface. In comparison with the di-block copolymer, the block copolymers with 4, or 10 blocks can occupy more areas on the interface, and thus the multi-block copolymers have higher efficiency for the retardation of the phase separation.

Influence of Adding Compatibilizer to SBS Polymer-Modified Asphalt on Compatibility and Rheological Behavior

Adding compatibilizer to polymer-modified asphalt(PMA)is an effective method to improve compatibility and performance.However,only few studies have systematically focused on how compatibilizer can affect the performance of styrene-butadiene-styrene(SBS)polymer-modified asphalt(PMA).In this study,six compatibilizers with different compositions were used to prepare SBS PMA samples.Conventional performance,viscosity-temperature characteristics,viscoelastic behavior,creep properties,and morphology were investigated.The results show that adding compatibilizer to SBS PMA has a great effect on its performance.High aromatics content in compatibilizers can improve the high-temperature performance of SBS PMA,while a high saturates content can enhance the low-temperature performance.Additionally,high aromatics content in compatibilizer can increase the temperature sensitivity.While the aromatics content does improve the compatibility of SBS PMA to some extent,adding compatibilizer to SBS PMA has few effects on the microstructure.Judging from our test results,we can conclude that the optimum aromatics content for adding compatibilizer to SBS PMA ranges from 33.21%to 54.22%.

Influences of Reactive Compatibilizer R-Styrene-Maleic Anhydride Copolymer on PA6/PP Blends

The effect of R-styrene-maleic anhydride copolymer （R- SMA） compatibilzation on Nylon 6 （ PA6 ）/polypropylene （ PP ） blends has been investigated experimentally through Molan test, microscopic morphology, and chemical structure. Results show that the moderate R-SMA addition can promote reaction between anhydride in R-SMA and amino in PA6, and lead to a new PA6-g- R-SMA copolymer in the blends. Such PA6-g-R-SMA eopolymer in the blends can effectively reduce the interfaeial tension and PP particle size, and improve the compatibility of two immiscible phases in the blends. The crystallinity of PA6 in PA6/PP blends has greatly decreased by PP blends. The blends have the best comprehensive mechanical and thermal properties when the mass ratio of PA6/PP/ R-SMA is 90：10：2 to 90：10：4. The impact strength of the PA6/PP blends with the eompatibilizer is increased by more than 150 %.

The Role of Compatibilizers on the Properties of PC/ABS Alloy

Two compatibilizers consisting of styrene-acrylonitrile-glycidyl methacrylate (SAG) terpolymer with different contents of glycidyl methacrylate (GMA), SAG-001 (1 wt% of GMA) and SAG-005 (5 wt% of GMA), and styrene-acry-lonitrile-maleic anhydride terpolymer (SAM), SAM-002 (2 wt% of maleic anhydride ), were used to evaluate the role of compatibilizers in the PC/ABS alloy in terms of the mechanical properties, thermal stability and phase morphology. The tensile strength of SAG modified PC/ABS alloy slightly increased than that of SAM modified system, but the two compatibilizers barely affected the flexural strength of the system. On the other hand, the impact strength of SAG modified PC/ABS was improved. In addition, the MFR (melt flow index) of the SAG modified PC/ABS alloy reduced, implying that the viscosity or molecular weight of the system increased. The HDT (heat distortion temperature) also improved with SAG modified system. Moreover, the phase morphology of the SAG modified PC/ABS alloys much enhanced than that of SAM modified system. As a consequence, SAG compatibilized PC/ABS alloy showed better properties than those of SAM modified system, suggesting that the reaction between carboxylic or epoxy groups in SAG and terminal carboxyl group in PC would be the main factor to bring the enhancement in the mechanical, thermal and morphological properties of the PC/ABS alloy.

Effects of two modification methods on the mechanical properties of wood flour/recycled plastic blends composites: addition of thermoplastic elastomer SEBS-g-MAH and in-situ grafting MAH

The effect of maleic anhydride grafted styrene-ethylene- buty-lene-styrene block copolymer （SEBS-g-MAH） and in-situ grafting MAH on mechanical, dynamic mechanical properties of wood flour/recycled plastic blends composites was investigated. Recycled plastic polypro-pylene （PP）, high-density polyethylene （HDPE） and polystyrene （PS）, were mixed with wood flour in a high speed blender and then extruded by a twin/single screw tandem extruder system to form wood flour/recycled plastic blends composites. Results show that the impact properties of the composites were improved more significantly by using SEBS-g-MAH compatibilizer than by using the mixtures of MAH and DCP via reactive blending in situ. However, contrary results were ob-served on the tensile and flexural properties of the corresponding com-posites. In General, the mechanical properties of composites made from recycled plastic blends were inferior to those made from virgin plastic blends, especially in elongation break. The morphological study verified that the interfacial adhesion or the compatibility of plastic blends with wood flour was improved by adding SEBS-g-MAH or in-situ grafting MAH. A better interfacial bonding between PP, HDPE, PS and wood flour was obtained by in-situ grafting MAH than the addition of SEBS-g-MAH. In-situ grafting MAH can be considered as a potential way of increasing the interfacial compatibility between plastic blends and wood flour. The storage modulus and damping factor of composites were also characterized through dynamic mechanical analysis （DMA）.

In-situ reactive compatibilization of HDPE/GTR blends by dicumyl peroxide and phenolic resin without catalyst

In-situ reactive compatibilization of high-density polyethylene （HDPE）/ground tire rubber （GTR） blends by dicumyl peroxide （DCP） and HY-2045 - a kind of thermoplastic phenolic resin without catalyst was investigated by studying the mor-phology, stress and strain behavior, dynamic mechanical properties and crystallization performance of the blends. Scanning e-lectron microscopy （SEM） results show that there are a lot of fibrous materials distributing in the interface, which connects the dispersed phase with the matrix and obtains better interfacial strength for prominent mechanical properties. The addition of compatibilizers results in the decrease of crystallinity of the blends and the disappearance of an obvious yield phenomenon, which was proved by the differential scanning calorimeter （DSC） test and X-ray diffraction （XRD） characterization Although the crystallinity of the blends decreases,the tensile strength and tensile strain of the blends significantly increases, especially for the HDPE/GTR/DCP/HY-2045 blends, which is possibly attributed to the good compatibility of the blends owing to the in-situ interface crosslinking. In addition, it is found that the compatibilizing HDPE/GTR blends shows a higher tan^ peak temperature and a broaden transition peak for GTR phase.

“Cutting effect” of organoclay platelets in compatibilizing immiscible polypropylene/polystyrene blends

In this work, polypropylene (PP)/polystyrene (PS) blends with different organoclay concentrations were prepared via melt compounding. Differing from the results of previous reports, the organoclay platelets are mostly located in the dispersed PS phase instead of the interface. The dimensions of the dispersed PS droplets are greatly reduced and apparent compatibilization effect still exists, which cannot be explained by the traditional compatibilization mechanism. A novel compatibilization mecha- nism, "cutting" to apparently compatibilize the immiscible PP/PS blends was proposed. The organoclay platelets tend to form a special "knife-like structure" in the PS domain under the shear stress of the continuous PP phase during compounding. The "clay knife" can split the dispersed PS domain apart and lead to the dramatic reduction of the dispersed domain size.

Compatibilization of PBT/PP Blends by Adding Side-chain Liquid Crystalline Ionomer with Quaternary Pyridinium Groups

A side-chain liquid crystalline ionomer（SLCI） was synthesized by grafting copolymerization of 4-（4-ethoxybenzoyloxy）-4＇-allyloxybiphenyl and N-allyl-pyridium bromide on polymethylhydrosiloxane. The SLCI was blended with polypropylene（PP） and polybutylene terephthalate（PBT） by melt mixing. The thermal behavior, liquid crystalline properties, morphological structure, and mechanical properties of the blends were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry（DSC）, polarizing optical microscopy（POM）, scanning electron microscopy（SEM）, and tensile measurement. When a proper amount of SLCI was added, fine configurations were formed in the PBT/PP/SLCI blend system, and the mechanical properties were improved due to improved adhesion at the interface. When excess SLCI was added, an inhomogeneous structure resulted, which caused the mechanical properties to deteriorate.

Starch/Polycaprolactone Blends Compatibilized with Starch Modified Polyurethane

Starch modified polyurethane（St-PCL） was synthesized via chemical modification of corn starch with hexamethylene diisocyanate terminated polyeaprolactone. The obtained St-PCL with different grafting rates was used as compatibilizer of starch/polycaprolactone（St/PCL） blend. The structure of St-PCL was confirmed by FTIR, and the grafting rate could reach as high as 64%. In addition, a lower St-PCL amount can effectively improve the compatibility of St/PCL blends. And the thermal, mechanical and hydrophobic properties of St/PCL blends could be tailored by the amount of St-PCL.

Effect of Poly(ε-caprolactone-b-tetrahydrofuran)Triblock Copolymer Concentration on Morphological,Thermal and Mechanical Properties of Immiscible PLA/PCL Blends

In this study a low molecular weight triblock copolymer derived fromε-caprolactone and tetrahydrofuran was used as a non-reactive compatibilizer of immiscible PLA/PCL blends.Ternary blends with 0,1.5 wt%,3 wt%and 5 wt% copolymer and about 75 wt%PLA were prepared by single screw extrusion and characterized by scanning electron microscopy(SEM),differential scanning calorimetry(DSC),dynamic mechanical analysis(DMA),tensile and Izod impact testing.SEM micrographs showed that the size of the dispersed PCL domains was practically constant regardless of copolymer concentration.This result can be explained by the low shear rate employed during processing step and a decrease of PCL viscosity by presence of the triblock copolymer.However,when the copolymer concentration increased,strain at break of PLA/PCL blends also increased.PLA/PCL blend with 0 wt% copolymer presented 2%strain at break,whereas PLA/PCL blend with 5 wt%copolymer exhibited 90%.

Influence of Poly(vinyl chloride) on Natural Rubber/Chlorosulfonated Polyethylene Blends

Blend of natural rubber (NR) and chlorosulfonated polyethylene (CSM) was so interesting due to binding of the good oil resistance of CSM, the good mechanical properties and low cost of NR. However, due to the different polarities of two rubbers, phase separation and inferior properties of NR/CSM blend were obtained. The practical way to improve its properties is the addition of the third component to bind both phases of the blend. Effects of poly(vinyl chloride), PVC as compatibilizer on cure characteristics, morphology, mechanical properties and automotive fuel resistance of NR/ CSM blend were investigated. In this contribution, NR/CSM blend with blend ratio of 50/50 was prepared using a two-roll mill, and then vulcanized in a compression mold at 160°C. The PVC content was varied from 1 to 7 phr. It was found that the usage of 7 phr PVC led to improve interaction between NR and CSM phases. Therefore, increase in cure characteristics, mechanical strength and automotive fuel resistance of the blend was observed.

Rheological Properties of Polymers: Structure and Morphology of Molten Polymer Blends

The article reviews a brief literature on the rheological properties of polymer melts and blends. Experimental results on polymer blends are summarized. Technically, vital types of multi-phase polymers such as compounds and blends are discussed. The importance of the rheological properties of polymer mixtures in the development of the phase structure is discussed. And the importance of considering the stress and/or strain history of a material sample in a rheological investigation is discussed. Finally, the outlook on the past, present and future developments in the field of polymer rheology are given. The review concludes with a brief discussion on the opportunities and challenges in the field of polymer blends and blend rheology.

Mechanical properties of wood flour/recycled-thermoplastic-blends composites

The mechanical properties of composites prepared from wood flour and thermoplastic blends were investigated. Thermoplastic mixtures of polypropylene (PP) and high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and polystyrene (PS), virgin or recycled, were mixed with wood flour in a high speed blender and then extruded by a specially designed twin/single screw extruder system to form wood-flour/thermoplastic-blends composites (WTBCs). Comparative studies were made to evaluate the effectiveness of the two modification methods of the thermoplastic blends, the one of the addition of maleic anhydride grafted styrene-ethylene-butylene-styrene block copolymer (SEBS-g-MAH) as compatibilizer and the other of blend grafting of maleic anhydride (MAH) using dicumyl peroxide (DCP) as initiator by reactive extrusion. The results showed that the impact properties of WTBCs using SEBS-g-MAH as compatilizer were better improved than that of the blend grafting. However, adverse results were observed on the tensile and flexural properties of the corresponding WTBCs. The mechanical properties of WTBCs prepared from recycled plastic blends were poorer to some extent than that from virgin plastic blends in general, especially in elongation break. The morphology of WTBCs breaking section was analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and the results showed that a good interfacial adhesion between wood flour and polymer matrix was observed with both of the two modification methods. However, by blend grafting of adding DCP as initiator and MAH as monomer, a better interfacial bonding between wood and plastic matrix was obtained than that of the addition of SEBS-g-MAH. Blend grafting can be considered as a potential way of increasing the interfacial compatibility of different plastics and between plastic blends and wood.

SYNTHESIS OF POLYACRYLAMIDE WITH PENDANT POLY(BUTYL ACRYLATE) CHAINS USING THE MACROMER TECHNIQUE AND STUDIES ON THEIR PROPERTIES

An amphiphilic graft polymer, (PAM-g-PBA), polyacrylamide (PAM) having poly(n-butyl acrylate) (PBA) side chains, was obtained by radical copolymerization of acrylamide with PBA macromer in solution. The macromer was synthesized by free radical polymerization of butyl acrylate in the presence of different amounts of thioglycolic acid as the chain transfer agent, followed by termination with glycidyl methacrylate. The reactivity ratio and effects of copolymerization conditions on the conversion of macromer or grafting efficiency were studied. The crude products were purified by extraction with toluene and water successively. The purified graft copolymer was characterized by IR, DSC and TEM. PAM-g-PBA can bring about microphase separation and exhibits good emulsifying properties and water absorbency. PAM-g-PBA exhibits a very good compatibilizing effect on the acrylic rubber/poly(vinyl chloride) blends. 2%-3% of the graft copolymer is enough for enhancing the tensile strength of the blends. The tensile strength of the blends is more than twice that without the compatibilizer. DSC and SEM demonstrated the enhancement of compatibility in the presence of the graft copolymer.

CROSSLINKING AND COMPATIBILIZATION IN BLENDS OF POLYSTYRENE AND POLYETHYLENE

This paper investigated the influences of butadiene rubber (BR) and dicumyl peroxide (DCP) on thermal and rheological behaviour, morphology and mechanical properties of PS/LLDPE/SBS blend. Addition of DCP alone was found to decrease the mechanical properties of PS/LLDPE/SBS blend due to the decomposition of PS. When BR was added together with DCP, it is found that the co-crosslinking of BR, SBS and PE takes place, and the decomposition of PS is reduced simultaneously because of the consumption of the free radicals in the crosslinking process. Synergism was thus realised which resulted in the improvement of the ductility of blend.