Nonisothermal crystallization kinetics of in situ polyamide-6 blended withpoly(phenylene oxide)

Blends of Polyamide-6/Poly(phenylene oxide) (PA-6/PPO) were prepared by in situ polymerization, in which the reactive compatibilizer SP was added. Bas ed on two kinds of kinetic equation of nonisothermal crystallization propos ed by Ozawa and Liu, the influences of PPO, the cooling rate, and the compa tibilizer on crystallization process of PA-6 were investigated. At a given cooling rate, the presence of PPO reduces the overall crystallization rate of PA-6; for a fixed PPO level, the time of crystallization completed becom es shorter when the cooling rate is higher; the addition of SP impedes the development of crystal growth. Scanning electronic microscope (SEM) results fortified the above conclusion. According to the analysis result of experi ment data, it shows that the Ozawa equation does not adequately describe th e nonisothermal crystallization behavior of PA-6/PPO blends, whereas the Li u approach can be well applied in this studied system. (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.