MALEIC-ANHYDRIDE GRAFTED ETHYLENE-PROPYLENE DIENE MONOMER (EPDM-G-MA) TOUGHENED POLYAMIDE6 (PA6) NANOCOMPOSITES CONTAINING CARBON NANOTUBES (CNT) WERE PREPARED USING LABORATORY INTERNAL MIXER AT 230OC. EFFECT OF DIFFERENT BLEND COMPOSITION RATIOS ON THE MECHANICAL AND STRUCTURAL PROPERTIES OF THE NANOCOMPOSITES WAS INVESTIGATED. RESULTS SHOWED THAT UPON THE ADDITION OF CNT, A SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENT IS OBSERVED IN THE IMPACT STRENGTH AND ELONGATION AT BREAK RETAINING THE TENSILE MODULUS TO A SUFFICIENTLY HIGH VALUE. MICROSTRUCTURAL OBSERVATION OF THE SAMPLE FRACTURE SURFACES REVEALED A TOUGHENED MICROSTRUCTURE.

THE ULTRAFINE PHASE CHANGE COMPOSITE FIBERS BASED ON POLYETHYLENE GLYCOL/POLYAMIDE6 (PEG/PA6) BLENDS WITH 150/100 PEG/PA6 VOLUME RATIO, IN WHICH PA6 ACTS AS POLYMER MATRIX AND PEG ACTS AS PHASE CHANGE MATERIAL, WERE FABRICATED VIA ELECTROSPINNING. THE EFFECT OF VOLTAGE ON FIBERS’ MORPHOLOGY, WERE INVESTIGATED THROUGH THIS STUDY. THE MORPHOLOGY OF COMPOSITE FIBERS, WERE STUDIED BY SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPY (SEM). SEM RESULTS INDICATE THAT PEG/PA6 COMPOSITE FIBERS POSSESSED GOOD MORPHOLOGY WITH SMOOTH SURFACE, UNIFORM DIAMETER DISTRIBUTION AND WITHOUT BEAD. ADDITIONALLY SEM RESULTS SUGGEST THAT THE AVERAGE DIAMETERS OF PEG/PA6 COMPOSITE FIBERS BECOME SLIGHTLY LARGER AND NON-UNIFORM BY INCREASING VOLTAGE. HEAT TREATMENT ANALYSIS RESULTS SHOW THAT PEG WAS COMPLETELY ENCAPSULATED IN THE MATRIX OF PA6. THEREFORE, THE ELECTROSPUN PEG/PA6 PHASE CHANGE COMPOSITE FIBERS ARE SUITABLE FOR THERMAL ENERGY STORAGE AND TEMPERATURE REGULATION, THUS THEY HAVE POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS IN SMART TEXTILES, MEDICINE CARES AND ELECTRIC DEVICES.

THE PRESENT ARTICLE IS RELIED ON THE INFLUENCE OF NANOCLAY ON LINEAR AND NON-LINEAR VISCOELASTIC BEHAVIOUR OF PES/PA6 (70/30 %WT) POLYMER BLEND. THE CONCENTRATION OF NANOCLAY WAS VARIED FROM 3, 4 AND 5 PHR OF POLYMER BLEND. THE OUTCOMES OF LINEAR RHEOLOGIVAL INVESTIGATION SHOWED THAT WITH INCREMENT OF NANOCLAY CONCENTRATION, THE LINEAR VISCOELASTIC REGION OF NANOCOMPOSITES BECAME SHORTER AND STORAGE MODULUS INTENSIFIED. NON-LINEAR RHEOLOGICAL PROPERTIES OF NANOCOMPOSITES WERE DONE BY START-UP OF SHEAR FLOW. THE RESULTS OF START-UP OF SHEAR FLOW TEST INDICATED THAT NANOCOMPOSITES SHOWED THE PRONOUNCED STRESS OVERSHOOT COMPARE TO NEAT PES/PA6 POLYMER BLEND. AS WELL, THE INTENSITY OF STRESS OVERSHOOT INCREASED WITH INCREASING OF NANOCLAY CONTENT AND SHEAR RATE.

PA6/PP (80/20 WT./WT.) BLEND AND NANOCOMPOSITES CONTAING 5 PHR PP-G-MAH AND 4 PHR DIFFERENT ORGANOCLAY PARTICLES (CLOSITE 20A AND CLOSITE 30B) WERE PREPARED VIA TWIN SCREW EXTRUDER. THE TENSILE AND IMPACT PROPERTIES OF BLEND AND ITS NANOCOMPOSITES WERE STUDIED. IT WAS FOUND THAT THE SAMPLE CONTAINING CLOSITE 30B HAS HIGHER MECHANICAL PROPERTIES, WHICH COULD BE DUE TO MORE POLAR NATURE OF THIS NANO PARTICLE AND ITS GREATER AFFINITY TO PA6 PHASE. XRD SPECTRA SHOWED INTERCALATED STRUCTURE FOR BOTH C20A AND C30B NANOPARTICLES IN BLEND MATRIX, BUT CONFIRMED HIGHER SPACE BETWEEN PLATELETS OF CLOSITE 30B. SEM MICROGRAPHS REVEALED THE MATRIX/DISPERSED MORPHOLOGY, CONTAINING PP AS A DISPERSED PHASE, WITH AVERAGE PARTICLE SIZE OF 700 NM.

DIFFERENT COMPOSITIONS OF PP/PA6 BLENDS AND THEIR NANOCOMPOSITES CONTAINING 4 PHR ORGANOCLAY (CLOSITE 15 A) AND 5 PHR PP-G-MAH AS A COMPATIBILIZER WERE PREPARED USING A TWIN SCREW EXTRUDER. MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF SAMPLES WERE STUDIED BY TENSILE AND IZOD IMPACT TESTS. MORPHOLOGY OF NANOCOMPOSITES WAS STUDIED BY SEM AND TEM MICROSCOPIES. IT WAS FOUND THAT NANOCLAY PARTICLES ARE LOCATED IN PA6 PHASE AND AT THE INTERFACE OF TWO POLYMERS. THE BEST MECHANICAL PROPERTIES BELONGED TO NANOCOMPOSITES CONTAINING THE MAJOR PHASE OF PA6, WHICH WAS DUE TO THE HIGHER AFFINITY OF NANOCLAY TO POLAR PA6. THE INTERCALATION OF NANOCLAY PARTICLES WAS CONFIRMED BY X-RAY DIFFRACTION (XRD) AND TEM MICROSCOPY.

TERNARY POLYMER BLENDS BASED ON POLYPROPYLENE (PP)/POLYAMIDE6 (PA6)/ETHYLENE PROPYLENE DIENE MONOMER (EPDM) (70/15/15) WERE PREPARED BY MELT BLENDING USING TWIN SCREW EXTRUDER. MALEIC ANHYDRIDE GRAFTED ETHYLENE PROPYLENE DIENE MONOMER (EPDM-G-MA) WAS ALSO ADDED TO THE SYSTEM AS THE COMPATIBILZING AGENT. ACCORDING TO THE LITERATURE, THREE DIFFERENT MORPHOLOGIES ARE POSSIBLE IN TERNARY POLYMER BLENDS: SEPARATED DISPERSE, CORE/SHELL AND ACORN TYPE. EFFECT OF COMPATIBILIZER ON THE MORPHOLOGY OF THE BLENDS WERE INVESTIGATED AT THREE DIFFERENT RATIOS OF EPDM/EPDM-G-MA AS 75:25, 50:50 AND 25.75. SPREADING COEFFICIENTS PREDICT THE THERMODYNAMIC DRIVEN MORPHOLOGY OF TERNARY BLENDS AS CORE/SHELL TYPE. SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPY (SEM) MICROGRAPHS OF THE SAMPLES DEPICTED THAT THE COMPATIBILIZER COMPOSITION DOES AFFECT THE EPDM SHELL THICKNESS AND ALSO THE OVERALL SIZE OF COMPOSITE DROPLETS DISPERSED WITHIN THE POLYPROPYLENE MATRIX BUT DO NOT ALTER THE CORE/SHELL TYPE OF MORPHOLOGY DRIVEN BY THE THERMODYNAMIC OF INVESTIGATED TERNARY SYSTEM.