Miscibility behavior of poly(vinyl alcohol) nylon 6 blends and their reactive blending with poly(ethylene-co-ethyl acrylate)

Melt-mixed blends of Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVOH) with Nylon 6 were found to have good mechanical properties in the entire composition range. Determination of the glass transition temperature by dynamic mechanical analysis showed one broad T-g for the compositions rich in Nylon 6. In the case of the blends rich in PVOH, two T-g's were obtained, one close to that of the pure PVOH and another one in the region between the T-g's of the pure components. Characterizing blends with differential scanning calorimetry indicated a depression of the equilibrium melting point of Nylon 6. From the melting point data of the high T-m component, a value for the polymer-polymer interaction of chi(12) = -0.05 was derived using the simplified Nishi-Wang equation. Ternary blends composed of PVOH/Nylon 6/Poly(ethylene-co-ethyl acrylate) (PEEA) were prepared under reactive conditions in order to examine the possibility of using them as oxygen barrier material. The bonding of the ethylenic copolymer through reactive processing to the PVOH/Nylon 6 binary is expected to facilitate dispersion as well as interfacial adhesion in the case of mixing the above ternary in a polyethylene matrix. (C) 1998 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.