Novel morphologies of poly(phenylene oxide) (PPO)/polyamide 6 (PA6) blend nanocomposites

Poly(phenylene oxide) (PPO)/polyamide 6 (PA6) (50/50 w/w) blend nanocomposites were prepared by melt mixing of PPO, PA6, and organically modified clay. The morphology of PPO/PA6 nanocomposite with various amounts of clay has been investigated using scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM), and wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD). For the PPO/PA6 blend without clay, PPO is dispersed in the PA6 matrix with an average particle diameter of about 4.2 mum. The domain size of the dispersed PPO phase is significantly decreased to about 1.1 mum by adding a small amount of clay (2%). However, when the amount of organoclay is more than 5%, the matrix-domain structure is found to transform into the co-continuous morphology. The TEM observation shows that all the organoclay is dispersed only in the PA6 phase with a high degree of exfoliation and there is no any clay detectable in the PPO phase for the nanocomposites regardless of the amount of clay. It is considered that the dispersed clay platelets play an important role in the control of the PPO/PA6 blend morphology. Firstly, the selective localization of clay in PA6 phase changes the viscosity ratio of the PPO and PA6 phases. Therefore, clay has significant effects on the morphology of the polymer blend. Secondly, the high aspect ratio of the clay platelets prevents the coalescence of domains during melt mixing. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.