A study on the use of phenoxy resins as compatibilizers of polyamide 6 (PA6) and polybutylene terephthalate (PBT)

In this study we investigated the potential of phenoxy resins as compatibilizers in the blending of two high-volume engineering thermoplastics-polyamide 6 (PA6) and polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), in an effort to establish the usefulness of blending as a method of recycling of mixed plastic wastes. It was found that phenoxy resins formed miscible blends with PBT, formed grafted copolymers with PBT through ester exchange reactions, and-though formed immiscible blends with PA6-produced energetic interactions in the form of hydrogen bonding with PA6. The ternary blend systems of 70 parts PA6, 30 parts PBT, and respectively 5, 10, and 30 parts phenoxy resins, all by weight, revealed a two-phase nature-PA6 as the continuous phase and miscible blends of PBT and phenoxy resins as the dispersed phase-and were found to be stable to phase coarsening by annealing with mechanical properties at least as good as those of the component polymers.