Toughening Effects of Ethylene-Vinyl Acetate Copolymers With Different Vinyl Acetate Content and Viscosity on Nylon 1010 Blends

Nylon 1010 blends with ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer (EVA) and maleated ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA-g-MAH) were prepared through melt blending. The vinyl acetate (VA) content and viscosity of EVA significantly affected the notched impact strength of nylon/EVA/EVA-g-MAH (80/15/5) blends. The nylon/EVA/EVA-g-MAH blends with high notched impact strength (over 60 kJ/m(2)) were obtained when the VA content in EVA ranged from 28 to 60 wt%. The effect of VA content on the notched impact strength of blends was related to the glass transition temperature for EVA with high VA content and crystallinity for EVA with low VA content. For nylon blends with EVA with the same VA content, low viscosity of EVA led to high notched impact strength. Fracture morphology of nylon/EVA/EVA-g-MAH (80/15/5) blends showed that blends with ductile fracture behavior usually had large matrix plastic deformation, which was the main energy dissipation mechanism. A relationship between the notched impact strength and the morphology of nylon/EVA/EVA-g-MAH (80/15/5) blends was well correlated by the interparticle distance model. POLYM. ENG. SCL, 49:2393-2399, 2009. (C) 2009 Society of Plastics Engineers