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Polymer Blends: Processing, Morphology, and Properties

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A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944). This special issue belongs to the section "Advanced Composites".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2020) | Viewed by 11703

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Prof. Jose Gamez-Perez

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Polymers and Advanced Materials Group (PIMA), Universitat Jaume I, 12071 Castellón, Spain
Interests: polyhydroxyalkanoate blends; film toughness; biodegradable compounds

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue will focus on the existing state of the art of blending as an efficient approach to overcome the present and future challenges of the polymer industry. We are moving from an oil-based economy where a “few” cheap plastic products can fulfill many different applications to a new paradigm where the circular economy and pollution taxes will increase the cost of, if not ban, products made from commodities. Hence, the opportunity for specific new compounds that are optimal for fulfilling a given application will arise, especially in the field of bio-sourced and biodegradable materials. Blending polymers is a powerful method to modify the properties of plastics, but there are still some unanswered questions regarding processing-induced morphology and properties of the blends, which are the purpose of many studies. In this sense, the goal of this Special Issue is to be a reference work, collecting the latest results in the field, so they can enlighten current and future investigations.

Prof. Jose Gamez-Perez
Guest Editor

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Keywords

biodegradable blends
nano/micro-dispersions
reactive blending
surface modification

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

9 pages, 2723 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Morphology, Mechanical Properties and Shape Memory Effects of Polyamide12/Polyolefin Elastomer Blends Compatibilized by Glycidylisobutyl POSS

by Dong-Hun Lee, Young-Wook Chang and Keon-Soo Jang

Materials 2021, 14(1), 27; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma14010027 - 23 Dec 2020

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2119

Abstract

Small amounts of glycidylisobutyl polyhedral oligomericsilsesquioxane (G-POSS) (up to 10 phr) were added into a immiscible polyamide12 (PA12)/polyolefin elastomer (POE) blend (70 wt%/30 wt%) by simple melt mixing. The effects of the G-POSS on phase morphology and mechanical properties were investigated by FE-SEM, tensile testing, Izod impact test and dynamic mechanical analysis. FE-SEM analysis revealed that domain size of the dispersed POE phase in matrix PA12 is decreased significantly by adding the G-POSS, indicating a compatibilization effect of the G-POSS for the immiscible PA12/POE blend. The PA12/POE blend compatibilized with POSS showed simultaneous enhancement in mechanical properties including tensile modulus, strength and toughness. Further, thermally triggered shape memory effect was observed in this compatibilized blend. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polymer Blends: Processing, Morphology, and Properties)

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13 pages, 4307 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Orientation of Poly(ε-caprolactone) in Its Poly(vinyl chloride) Blends Crystallized under Strain: The Role of Strain Rate

by Ruru Wan, Xiaoli Sun, Zhongjie Ren, Huihui Li and Shouke Yan

Materials 2020, 13(24), 5655; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma13245655 - 11 Dec 2020

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1459

Abstract

The blends of high and low molecular weights poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) with poly(vinyl chloride (PVC) were prepared. The samples before and after the crystallization of PCL were uniaxially stretched to different draw ratios. The orientation features of PCL in a stretched crystalline PCL/PVC blend and crystallized from the amorphous PCL/PVC blends under varied strains were studied by wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD). It was found that a uniaxial stretching of crystalline PCL/PVC blend with high molecular weight PCL results in the c-axis orientation along the stretching direction, as is usually done for the PCL bulk sample. For the stretched amorphous PCL/PVC blend samples, the crystallization of high molecular weight PCL in the blends under a draw ratio of λ = 3 with a strain rate of 6 mm/min leads to a ring-fiber orientation. In the samples with draw ratios of λ = 4 and 5, the uniaxial orientation of a-, b-, and c-axes along the strain direction coexist after crystallization of high molecular weight PCL. With a draw ratio of λ = 6, mainly the b-axis orientation of high molecular weight PCL is identified. For the low molecular weight PCL, on the contrary, the ring-fiber and a-axis orientations coexist under a draw ratio of λ = 3. The a-axis orientation decreases with the increase of draw ratio. When the λ reaches 5, only a poorly oriented ring-fiber pattern has been recognized. These results are different from the similar samples stretched at a higher strain rate as reported in the literatures and demonstrate the important role of strain rate on the crystallization behavior of PCL in its blend with PVC under strain. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polymer Blends: Processing, Morphology, and Properties)

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18 pages, 5510 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Studies on Glass Fiber-Reinforced Poly(Ethylene-Grafted-Styrene)-Based Cation Exchange Membrane Composite

by Di Huang, Zhichao Chen and Jiann-Yang Hwang

Materials 2020, 13(24), 5597; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma13245597 - 08 Dec 2020

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1687

Abstract

To improve interfacial adhesion between glass fiber (GF) and poly(ethylene-grafted-styrene)-based cation exchange membranes (CEM), GF was modified by four coupling agents: [3-(Methacryloxy)propyl] trimethoxy silane (3-MPS), 1,6-bis (trimethoxysilyl) hexane (1,6 bis), Poly(propylene-graft-maleic anhydride) (PP-g-MA) and Triethoxyvinylsilane (TES). The results indicated the addition of modified GF increased tensile strength, tensile modulus, storage modulus and interfacial adhesion of GF/CEM composite but degraded the strains. The composite with 3-MPS modified GF obtained superior mechanical properties and interfacial adhesion, whereas the modified effect of TES was inconspicuous. The addition of unmodified GF even had negative effects on GF/CEM mechanical properties. The field emission scanning electron microscopes (FE-SEM) showed that the GF treated by 3-MPS and PP-g-MA have better compatibility with the CEM matrix than 1,6 bis and TES-treated GF. The Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) verified that the strengthening effects from modified GF were attributed to the formation of Si-O-Si and Si-O-C bonds. The additions of modified GF in CEM positively influence water uptake ability but negatively influence ion exchange capacity (IEC). This research provided a way of strengthening GF/CEM composite and pointed out which functional groups included in coupling agents could be useful to GF-reinforced composite. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polymer Blends: Processing, Morphology, and Properties)

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14 pages, 47745 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effect of sPP Content on Electrical Tree Growth Characteristics in PP-Blended Cable Insulation

by Shuofan Zhou, Fan Yu, Wei Yang, Zhonglei Li, Zhaoliang Xing, Mingsheng Fan, Tao Han and Boxue Du

Materials 2020, 13(23), 5360; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma13235360 - 26 Nov 2020

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1629

Abstract

This paper aims at investigating the electrical tree characteristics of isotactic polypropylene (iPP)/syndiotactic polypropylene (sPP) blends for thermoplastic cable insulation. PP blended samples with sPP contents of 0, 5, 15, 30, and 45 wt% are prepared, and electrical treeing experiments are implemented under alternating current (AC) voltage at 50, 70, and 90 °C. Experimental results show that with the incorporation of sPP increasing to 15 wt%, the inception time of electrical tree increases by 8.2%. The addition of sPP by 15% distinguishes an excellent performance in inhibiting electrical treeing, which benefits from the ability to promote the fractal dimension and lateral growth of branches. Further increase in sPP loading has a negative effect on the electrical treeing resistance of blended insulation. It is proved by DSC and POM that the addition of sPP promotes the heterogeneous crystallization the of PP matrix, resulting in an increasing density of interfacial regions between crystalline regions, which contains charge carrier traps. Charges injected from an electrode into a polymer are captured by deep traps at the interfacial regions, thus inhibiting the propagation of electrical tree. It is concluded that the modification of crystalline morphology by 15 wt% sPP addition has a great advantage in electrical treeing resistance for PP-based cable insulation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polymer Blends: Processing, Morphology, and Properties)

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16 pages, 7478 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Properties of Styrene–Maleic Anhydride Copolymer Compatibilized Polyamide 66/Poly (Phenylene Ether) Blends: Effect of Maleic Anhydride Concentration and Copolymer Content

by Alper Aksit, Teresa Menzel, Merve Aksit and Volker Altstädt

Materials 2020, 13(5), 1237; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma13051237 - 09 Mar 2020

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 3970

Abstract

Polyamide 66 (PA66)/poly (2,6-dimethyl-1,4-phenylene ether) (PPE) blends with a ratio of 50/50 (w/w) were produced by a twin-screw compounder. The immiscible blends were compatibilized using two different styrene–maleic anhydride copolymers (SMA) with a low (SMA_low) and a high (SMA_high) maleic anhydride (MA) concentration of 8 and 25 wt%, respectively. Furthermore, the SMA content was varied from 0 to 10 wt%. The influence of MA concentration and SMA content on the morphological and thermomechanical properties of PA66/PPE blends was investigated. Herein, we established correlations between the interfacial activity of the SMA with blend morphology and corresponding tensile properties. A droplet-sea to co-continuous morphology transition was shown by scanning electron microscopy to occur between 1.25 and 5 wt% in the case of SMA_high. For SMA_low, the transition started from 7.5 wt% and was still ongoing at 10 wt%. It was found that SMA_low with 10 wt% content enhanced the tensile strength (10%) and elongation at break (70%) of PA66/PPE blends. This improvement can be explained by the strong interfacial interaction of SMA_low within the blend system, which features the formation of nanoemulsion morphology, as shown by transmission electron microscopy. Very small interdomain distances hinder matrix deformations, which forces debonding and cohesive failure of the PPE phase as a “weaker” main deformation mechanism. Due to a lack of interfacial activity, the mechanical properties of the blends with SMA_high were not improved. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polymer Blends: Processing, Morphology, and Properties)

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