Morphological and mechanical properties of rubber-toughened polyamide 6/polypropylene nanocomposites prepared by different methods of compounding

The nanocomposites based on polyamide 6/polypropylene blends (PA6/PP), polypropylene grafted with maleic anhydride (PPgMAH), ethylene octene copolymer (POE), and organically modified montmorillonite (organoclay) are prepared through different mixing sequences of melt intercalation technique. The processes used are: (1) direct melt intercalation single extrusion process (SD), (2) two times direct melt intercalation (S2x), (3) two steps melt intercalation i.e., mixing of preblend PA6/organoclay with preblend PP/ PPgMAH/POE (S2sa), and (4) two steps melt intercalation i.e., mixing of preblend PA6/PP/PPgMAH/organoclay with POE (S2sb). The effect of various processing techniques on the structural, morphological, and mechanical properties of nanocomposites is characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), tensile, flexural, and Izod impact testing.