Mechanical property and morphology comparison between the two blends poly(propylene)/ethylene-propylene-diene monomer elastomer and poly(propylene)/maleic anhydride-g-ethylene-propylene-diene monomer

The comparison of the mechanical properties between poly(propylene)/ethylene-propylene-diene monomer elastomer (PP/EPDM) and poly(propylene)/maleic anhydride-g-ethylene-propylene-diene monomer [PP/MEPDM (MAH-g-EPDM)] showed that the latter blend has noticeably higher Izod impact strength but lower Young's modulus than the former one. Phase morphology of the two blends was examined by dynamic mechanical thermal analysis, indicating that the miscibility of PP/MEPDM was inferior to PP/EPDM. The poor miscibility of PP/MEPDM degrades the nucleation effectiveness of the elastomer on PP. The observations of the impact fracture mode of the two blends and the dispersion state of the elastomers, determined by scanning electron microscopy, showed that PP/EPDM fractured in a brittle mode, whereas PP/MEPDM in a ductile one, and that a finer dispersion of MEPDM was found in the blend PP/MEPDM. These observations indicate that the difference in the dispersion state of elastomer between PP/EPDM and PP/MEPDM results in different fracture modes, and thereby affects the toughness of the two blends. The finer dispersion of MEPDM in the blend of PP/MEPDM was attributed to the part cross-linking of MEPDM resulting from the grafting reaction of EPDM with maleic anhydride (MAH) in the presence of dicumyl peroxide (DCP). (C) 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.