Effect of PP-g-MAH compatibilizer content in polypropylene/nylon-6 blends

A method commonly used to induce compatibility between polyamides and polyolefins is by chemical modification of the polyolefins. This concept has been employed to produce compatibilized blend of nylon 6 (N6) and polypropylene copolymer (PPCP) by adding maleic anhydride grafted polypropylene (PP-g-MAH) as a third component. The blends of N6, PPCP and PP-g-MAH were prepared using a twin screw extruder. TEM of the blends revealed better dispersion and reduction in the size of the dispersed phase. In case of N6 rich blends, about 25% increase in tensile strength was observed with just three phb of PP-g-MAH. The maximum impact strength and flexural modulus were observed at around 30% PPCP. The incorporation of PP-g-MAH increased the flexural modulus of N6/PPCP blends significantly.