Impact, thermal, and morphological properties of functionalized rubber toughened-poly(ethylene terephthalate) nanocomposites

In this study, poly(ethylene terephthalate)/organo-montmorillonite (PET/OMMT) nanocomposites were melt-compounded using twin screw extruder followed by injection molding. Maleic anhydride grafted styrene-ethylene/butylene-styrene (SEBS-g-MAH) was used to improve the impact properties of the PET/OMMT nanocomposites. The notched and un-notched impact strength of PET/OMMT nanocomposites increased at about 2.5 times and 5.5 times by the addition of 5 wt % of SEBS-g-MAH. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) scans were taken from the polished surface of both PET/OMMT and SEBS-g-MAH toughened PET/OMMT nanocomposites. The addition of SEBS-g-MAH altered the phase structure and clay dispersion in PET matrix. It was found that some of the OMMT silicate layers were encapsulated by SEBS-g-MAH. Further, the addition of SEBS-g-MAH decreased the degree of crystallinity of the PET/OMMT nanocomposites. (c) 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2012