A facile route for preparing stable co-continuous morphology of LLDPE/PA6 blends with low PA6 content

A facile method is employed to prepare a series of LLDPE/PA6 blends with co-continuous morphology with low PA6 content via reactive extrusion. In these blends, co-continuous morphology is obtained by introducing graft copolymers with both high and low molecular weight trunk chains to the interface simultaneously. Maleic anhydride functionalized polybutadine (PB-g-MAH, M̄n≈3000g/mol and MAH content = 10 wt%) is first melt grafted onto the LLDPE backbones with dicumyl peroxide (DCP) as an initiator. Part of PB-g-MAH is grafted onto LLDPE to form LLDPE-g-PB-g-MAH copolymer. During reactive extrusion, in-situ formed Copolymer II (polybutadiene-graft-polyamide, PB-g-PA6) with a low molecular weight trunk chain (PB) is obtained from the reaction between the maleic anhydride group of free or non-grafted PB-g-MAH and the amino group on PA6 molecules; while Copolymer I (LLDPE-g-PB-g-PA6) is obtained via the reaction between the maleic anhydride group of the grafted PB-g-MAH (i.e., LLDPE-g-PB-g-MAH) and the amino group of PA6. Copolymer I with a high molecular weight trunk chain, LLDPE, should strengthen the interface and favor stress transfer, enabling the deformation of PA6; and Copolymer II (PB-g-PA6) with a low molecular weight trunk chain, PB, facilitates the formation of a flat interface between LLDPE and PA6, thus promoting an elongated PA6 phase. Therefore, co-continuous morphology of LLDPE/PA6 blend is successfully prepared with only 25 wt% PA6 by controlling suitable amounts of Copolymers I and II in the blend.