Mechanical and Thermal Properties of Polyamide 6/HDPE-g-MAH/High Density Polyethylene

Blending of polyamide 6/high density polyethylene (PA6/HDPE=70/30 wt%) was prepared by melt compounding using a twin screw extruder followed by injection molding using HDPE-g-MAH served as compatibilizer. A series combination of PA6/HDPE with HDPE-g-MAH were blended with varied composition of 100/0, 98/2, 96/4, 94/6 and 92/8. The mechanical properties of the samples such as tensile test, flexural test and elongation at break were measured by universal tensile machine while hardness was measured using the Zwick Roell hardness tester. The composites were characterized by Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and Thermogravimetric Analyzer (TGA). The addition of HDPE-g-MAH (2wt%) showed increased in modulus, strength and hardness but elongation at break decreased. DSC tests showed similar trend for all compositions. All mechanical tests also showed that composition of 98% PA6/HDPE with 2% HDPE-g-MAH has the highest value indicated best formulation for this research. (C) 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.