Evolution of the morphological and rheological properties along the extruder length for compatibilized blends of a commercial liquid-crystalline polymer and polypropylene

In a previous article, we reported on the evolution of the morphological and rheological properties along the length extruder for blends of a liquid-crystalline polymer (LCP), Rodrun LC3000, and polypropylene (PP). In this work, we extended this study to compatibilized PP/ Rodrun LC3000 blends, containing 10 wt % LCP and different compatibilizers, to determine the influence of the addition of a compatibilizer during the processing and, consequently, on the final properties of such systems. The results revealed that the addition of compatibilizers led to a decrease in the mean diameters of the LCP structures, in comparison with those presented by the noncompatibilized blend containing the same LCP content. This phenomenon occurred more quickly for those blends in which compatibilization was carried out in an efficient way. Linear oscillatory shear was mainly sensitive to the type of morphology present in the blends, whereas nonlinear oscillatory shear was more sensitive to the evolution in the droplet/fibril size and along the extruder length. (c) 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.