Dynamic rheological properties of polypropylene/polyamide-6 blends modified with a maleated thermoplastic elastomer

The effects of added maleated thermoplastic elastomer (TPEg) on rheological properties and morphologies of polypropylene (PP)/polyamide-6 (PA6) blends are examined. For comparison, non-maleated version (TPE) is also added to the above binary blends. The magnitude of complex viscosity and viscoelastic moduli of PP/PA6/TPE blends gradually decrease with the content of TPE. However, for PP/PA6/TPEg blends, these above parameters increase dramatically with increasing content of reactive TPEg and shear-thinning behavior becomes more obvious. SEM micrographs show that the addition of TPEg effectively increases compatibility between PP and PA6 and results in a considerable decrease in the domain size of dispersed phase; whereas the ternary blends containing non-reactive TPE exhibit a typical characteristic of immiscible blends with a very coarse morphology. TEM results further reveal that for PP/PA6/TPEg blends, a core-shell structure consisting of PA6 particles encapsulated with POE are probably formed in PP matrix.