Impact properties, phase structure, compatibility, and fracture morphology of polyamide-1010/thermoplastic poly(ester urethane) elastomer blends

Blends of polyamide-1010 (PA1010) and a thermoplastic poly(ester urethane) elastomer (TPU) were prepared by melt extrusion. The impact properties, phase structure, compatibility, and fracture morphology under impact were investigated for PA1010/TPU blends. The results indicated that TPU enhanced the impact strength of PA1010, and the best impact modification effect of the blends was obtained with 20 wt % TPU. The phase structure was investigated with scanning electron microscopy, and the compatibility was investigated with dynamic mechanical analysis and small-angle X-ray scattering. The study of the fracture morphology of PA1010/TPU blends indicated that the fracture surface of the blends had special features, consisting of many fibrillar elastomer particles and a conglutination-multilayer structure, as well as many small tubers on this structure. These fracture phenomena could not be found on the fracture surface of pure PA1010. (c) 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.