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Toughening of PA6/EPDM-g-MAH/HDPE ternary blends via controlling EPDM-g-MAH grafting degree: the role of core–shell particle size and shell thickness

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Abstract

The formation of core–shell morphology for composite droplet polymer-blend systems containing a polyamide-6 (PA6) matrix, MAH grafted ethylene–propylene–diene rubber (EPDM-g-MAH) shell and high-density polyethylene (HDPE) core was studied. Core–shell morphology with various shell thickness of blends was controlled via adding EPDM-g-MAH with varying grafting degree. Smaller size of core–shell composite droplets and thicker EPDM-g-MAH shell are formed in PA6/EPDM-g-MAH/HDPE ternary blends with lower grafting degree of EPDM-g-MAH and the corresponding Izod impact strength reaches a optimal value of 35.7 kJ/m2, which is almost 9–10 times higher than pure PA6 (3.6 kJ/m2). Further, the toughening mechanism was proposed and the results showed that the thicker EPDM-g-MAH shell can better transfer the stress between polymer matrix and dispersed phase particles, resulting in easier fibrillation progress of dispersed phase particles, which absorbs a significant amount of impact energy. However, for the blends with higher grafting degree of EPDM-g-MAH, during impact processing the easier deformation of the thinner EPDM-g-MAH shell caused overlarge cavitations and naked/debonding fiber or spherical dispersed particles, which reduces the Izod impact strength of blends.

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the National Key Basic Research Program of China (973 Program, No. 2012CB025902), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. 2013SCU04A03) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Contract No. 51273219) and financially supported by State Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials Engineering (Grant No. sklpme2014-3-12).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials Engineering, College of Polymer Science and Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610065, Sichuan, China

    Rui Dou, Yan Zhou, Chao Shen, Lan-peng Li, Bo Yin & Ming-bo Yang

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  1. Rui Dou
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  2. Yan Zhou
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  3. Chao Shen
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  4. Lan-peng Li
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  5. Bo Yin
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Correspondence to Bo Yin.

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Dou, R., Zhou, Y., Shen, C. et al. Toughening of PA6/EPDM-g-MAH/HDPE ternary blends via controlling EPDM-g-MAH grafting degree: the role of core–shell particle size and shell thickness. Polym. Bull. 72, 177–193 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00289-014-1266-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00289-014-1266-3

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