REACTIVE COMPATIBILIZATION OF POLYSTYRENE POLYETHYLENE BLENDS CONTAINING BASIC FUNCTIONALIZED POLYMER/

Blends oi polystyrene(PS) with polyethylene(PE) or PE melt grafted wit h maleic anhydride (PE-g-MAH) and copolymer [Poly (Sr-Co-DMA)] oi styr ene (St) with dimethyl amino ethyl methacrylate(DMA) were prepared by blending in a Brabender mixer, The morphology of these blends was foun d to have the typical morphology of incompatible blends, where their r eactive PS/PE-g-MAH/Poly(St-Co-DMA) blends showed a finer morphology, the particle size was greatly reduced and the size distribution became more uniform, This was attributed to the stronger polar interaction b etween the acidic anhydride and basic amino groups. Furthermore, the d ynamic mechanical analysis measurements showed that the two glass tran sition temperature(T-g) peaks of reactive blends were closer than thos e oi corresponding nonreactive blends. The mechanical properites of bl ends were improved.