BLENDS OF NYLON-6 WITH A POLYETHYLENE FUNCTIONALIZED BY PHOTOOXIDATION

An easy and cheap method to prepare functionalized polyethylene is reported in which polyethylene is photooxidized and then melt‐blended with nylon. Structural, rheological, and mechanical modifications indicate that carbonyl, formed during photooxidation, and amine groups react giving rise to copolymers which stabilize the blends. Photooxidized polyethylene from waste could be very effective in preparing polyethylene/polyamide blends with improved properties. This new approach improves over current methods in which compatibilization of polyolefines and polyamides is mostly performed by reacting functionalized polyolefines with polyamides in molten state. The functionalization is achieved by chemical modification of the polyolefines chains. This step could be very expensive. Copyright © 1990 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.