Injection molding of PC/PBT/LCP ternary in situ composite

A liquid crystalline polymer (LCP), Vectra B950, reinforced polycarbonate (PC) 60 wt%/polybutylene terephthalate (PET) 40 wt% blend was studied using the injection molding process. Morphology and mechanical properties of ternary in situ LCP composites were investigated and compared with binary polycarbonate/Vectra B950 LCP composites. Good in situ fibrillation of LCP was observed in the direct injection-molded LCP composites. Preliminary results of this work indicate that addition of PET improves skin-core distribution of LCP microfibrils in the matrix and also enhances adhesion between the matrix and Vectra B950, which contains terephthalic acid. The PC/PBT/LCP ternary system also exhibits lower viscosity than the PC/PBT blend and pure LCP. In a ternary system with 30 wt% of Vectra B950, tensile modulus and strength increase approximately threefold and twofold, respectively. The rule of mixtures (ROM) for continuous reinforcement can accurately represent the strengthening effects for the ternary LCP in situ composites. Generally, LCP reduces the ductility and impact strength of the thermoplastic blends; however, the relative loss is less in the ternary system than in the binary system.