Comparative mechanical, morphological, rheological, and thermal properties of polypropylene/ethylene-propylene-diene rubber blends

Because of its weak durability at low temperatures and low strain rates, polypropylene's use as an engineering plastic is restricted. To make polypropylene more tougher, combine it with elastomeric particles in a cost-effective manner is an excellent option. Internal melt blending was used to manufacture polypropylene (PP) and high-molecular-grade ethylene-propylene-diene rubber (EPDM) blends with varying constitutive ratios in this work. EPDM's lower portions have especially high impact strength ratings for PP/EPDM mixtures. (i.e., 2.5, 5, and 7.5 parts per hundred EPDM rubber). The mechanically generated cavitation behavior of impact cracked specimens is obvious from SEM morphology, showing to the strong impact resistance of PP/EPDM blends. Increased EPDM content reduces the amount of scattered EPDM rubber particles by increasing the average diameter of dispersed particles, as seen by HRTEM images of the samples. The tensile and flexural properties of PP/EPDM blends were analysed. The rheological tests demonstrate that as the frequency increases, the complex viscosity drops, indicating that the melt is in a pseudoplastic condition. Due to the destruction of polymer chain mobility at greater cooling rates, DSC analysis indicates that percentage crystallinity values decrease as the cooling rate of crystallization increases, resulting in an incomplete crystallization process. The fact that PP/EPDM mixes have two glass transition temperatures indicates that they are immiscible. An investigation using the TGA found that the maximum degradation temperature (T-max) of the PP/EPDM rubber mixtures may be sustained for long periods of time at very high operating temperatures.

Automated summary

To improve the durability of polypropylene, the use of internal melt blending with elastomeric particles is an effective method. In this study, polypropylene and high-molecular-grade ethylene-propylene-diene rubber blends were manufactured using internal melt blending. The impact resistance and dispersion of EPDM rubber particles in the blends were analyzed.