Study of rheological behavior of elastomer/polypropylene blends

The Cross model has been used to model the shear rate dependence on the viscosity of ethylene/octene copolymers (EOC) produced by metallocene technology. In this work, a theological study was carried out on EOC/PP and EPDM/PP blends. The oscillatory flow properties of the pure polymers and blends were determined at 220degreesC on a cone-plate rheometer at an angular frequency ranging from 0.01 to 100 rad/s. Higher shear rate data were obtained from a capillary rheometer. The results showed that the Cross model can be applied to describe the theology of EOC and EOC/PP blends, but not to EPDM or EPDM/PP systems. (C) 2002 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.