Structure Development in Thermoplastic Elastomers from Blends of Plastics and Rubber, Interfacial Phenomena and Their Relationship with Properties

Structure development is an important aspect of thermoplastic elastomers from blends of plastics and rubber, which is guided by the interaction between the components and rheology of the individual polymers. The present research would discuss structure-development in typical immiscible rubber-plastic blends and its theoretical modelling. The interface that is generated due to interaction would be examined. The influence of the above on mechanical, dynamic mechanical, rheological, thermal properties and permeability would be discussed in detail.

Structure development of a series of polymer blends from polyamide 6 (PA6) and fluoroelastomer (FKM) was undertaken. Further variation of processing conditions and processing techniques gave nanostructured polymer blends. Development of morphology and properties at different stages of mixing and dynamic vulcanization of such nanostructured thermoplastic elastomers from polyamide 6 (PA6)/fluoroelastomer (FKM) were investigated. Tensile strength and Young’s modulus increased (60 % and 65 % respectively) with increasing mixing time (1 min and 4 min). Significant improvement of tensile properties was observed after micro-injection molding of the sample when compared to the specimen before injection molding. Prediction of the size of the dispersed phase using the mixing conditions was done. Structure-rheology relationship of these interactive PA6/FKM blends was established. The morphology and interaction between components of Polyamide 6 (PA6) / Fluoroelastomer (FKM) at 40/60 composition was investigated by atomistic simulation and mesoscale dissipative dynamics simulation. The simulation results were very similar to the experimental observations.