Microstructure/Rheology Relationship of PP/EOC Blends and Their Hybrid Systems Containing Nanoclay

The aim of the present work was to study the microstructure/rheology relationship of PP/EOC blends and their nanocomposites containing nanoclay. The blends and hybrid samples with different compositions were compounded by using an internal mixer. The microstructure characterizations of the samples were performed by using rheology in combination with XRD and SEM. The melt linear viscoelastic results showed a pronounced positive deviation from mixing rule for complex viscosity as well as storage modulus at low frequency range. This could be explained in terms of strong interconnectivity between the EOC droplets i.e. the in-situ grafted PP on EOC molecules in the interface can act as long chain branches and promote the inter-molecular entanglements and which will assist bridging between EOC droplets. The addition of nanoclay was found to have a reducing effect on the droplet interconnectivity contribution on the nonterminal storage modulus

Keywords:

Rheology , PP , EOC , Nanocomposite , Interconnectivity