COMPATIBILIZED BLENDS OF POLYAMIDE-6 AND POLYETHYLENE

An increasing number of polymer alloys made by reactive processing of a compatibilizer precursor (CP) to form the compatibilizer in situ have appeared in recent years. Literature reports on compatibilization studies have focused on interactions of chemistry-morphology, processing-morphology, morphology-rheology, morphology-properties, etc. In commercial alloys. the interaction of chemistry and processing results in a material that has a balance of physical properties and rheological behavior. To maximize the contribution of each phase, it is of interest to be near the phase inversion region. In this work, maleic anhydride functionalized polyethylene is used as an effective CP for polyamide/polyethylene blends. In blends containing 50% nylon 6, the melt viscosity of the alloy increases exponentially as the ratio of CP to polyethylene increases though the morphology remains dispersed polyamide 6. High ratios of CP/PE are desired for toughness, alloys containing lesser amounts of CP exhibit better processability. The balance of toughness and processability is shown to be affected by the molecular weight of the CP.