Extraction of Micro- and Nano-Fibrils from Nylon 6/Polypropylene Grafted with Maleic Anhydride/Polypropylene Blended Films

Document Type : Research Paper

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Abstract

Atechnical feasibility study has been conducted on production of nano- and micro-fibrils from nylon 6/polypropylene grafted with maleic anhydride/polypropylene blended films. Fibrils are prepared in four consecutive steps.
In the first step the polymers melt blended in an extruder with and without compatibilizers to produce chips; in the second step films are extruded from polymer blends chips, in the third step films are cold drawn with different draw ratios at room temperature and in the forth step fibrils are extracted by Soxhlet extraction with formic acid as solvent for nylon 6.  The films and fibrils were examined by scanning electron microscope and FTIR spectroscopy. It is found that the polypropylene dispersed phase deforms and coalesces into elongated fibrils during drawing  operation. The  fibrils’ diameters in the blends containing compatibilizer are more uniform and are smaller than those from films without compatibilizers. The thinnest polypropylene fibril observed has a diameter around 300 nm with the aspect ratio above 150. The stress-elongation curves show three distinctive regions, elastic, yield and hardening-leading to breakage. The elastic region is short and follows by necking and yield, i.e., elongation without increase in load. The hardening region is accompanied by the increase in the slope. The deformations of the polypropylene particles are noticed during the last regions of the extension; the fibril deformations seem to be more severe during breakage.

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Iranian Journal of Polymer Science and Technology
Volume 23, Issue 2 - Serial Number 2
July and August 2010
Pages 155-169

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