COMPATIBILIZATION OF THERMOPLASTIC COMPOSITES BASED ON BLENDS OF POLYPROPYLENE WITH 2 LIQUID-CRYSTALLINE POLYMERS

In an earlier paper we considered the effect of polypropylene modified with maleic anhydride (MAGPP) on the properties of in situ composites based on polypropylene (PP) and a thermotropic copolyesteramide (Vect ra B). In this paper we consider the effect of MAGPP on the properties of in situ composites based on PP and two different thermotropic copo lyesters. It was observed that the MAGPP was nearly as effective in im proving the properties for the copolyester systems as it was for the c opolyesteramide system. The addition of MAGPP leads to finer and bette r dispersed fibrils of liquid crystalline polymer relative to the blen ds with no MAGPP added. These results were somewhat unexpected based o n earlier reports which suggested that compatibility would be detrimen tal to the formation of fibrils.