Morphology and rheological properties of polypropylene/reactive elastomer blends

The relation of morphology to the linear viscoelastic properties for polymer blends consisting of an inert polypropylene and an elastomeric dispersed phase, made of two miscible copolymers, EVA and EMA, was investigated. The rheological properties of the elastomeric phase were modified by crosslinking in presence of an organometallic catalyst. The activation energy for the transesterification reaction taking place between EVA and EMA has been determined by following the increases of the complex viscosity with time and temperature. The Palierne model has been used to describe the linear viscoelastic behavior of the blends, and to estimate the interfacial tension between the immiscible components. The model was shown to describe relatively well the linear viscoelastic properties of reactive and nonreactive blends containing 30% or less elastomer. In parallel, the morphology of reactive and nonreactive blends (i.e. without catalyst in the elastomeric phase), before and after rheological experiments, has been determined using scanning electron microscopy. The size of the dispersed elastomeric particles for reactive blends prepared using an internal mixer was found to be, in most cases, much smaller than that for nonreactive blends.