BINARY-ALLOYS OF NYLON-1010 AND ETHYLENE-PROPYLENE COPOLYMER - CHEMICAL, MORPHOLOGICAL, AND MECHANICAL ANALYSIS

The modification of ethylene-propylene copolymer (EPM) has been accomp lished by melt grafting of maleic anhydride (MAH) molecules promoted b y radical initiators. The resulting EPM-g-MAH and EPM have been used t o obtain binary nylon 1010/EPM or nylon 1010/EPM-g-MAH blends by melt mixing. It was found that the EPM-g-MAH copolymer used as the second c omponent has a profound effect upon the properties of the resulting bl ends. This behavior has been attributed to a series of chemical and ph ysicochemical interactions taking place between the two components. Th e interactions are due to the presence of the anhydride functionality on the copolymer and do not occur when this functionality is absent. T he interaction has been confirmed by Fourier-transform infrared spectr oscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, dynamic mechanical analysis , and scanning electron microscopic.