Toughening of polyethylene terephthalate/amorphous copolyester blends with a maleated thermoplastic elastomer

The toughening of polyethylene terephthalate (PET)/amorphous copolyester (PETG) blends using a maleic anhydride grafted mixture (TPEg) of polyethylene-octene elastomer and a semicrystalline polyolefin plastic (60/40 by weight) was examined. The TPEg was more effective,e in toughening PETG than PET, although the dispersion qualities of the TPEg particles in PET and PETG matrices were very similar. At the fixed TPEg content of 15 wt %, replacing partial PET by PETG resulted in a sharp brittle-ductile transition when the PETG content exceeded the PET content. Before the transition, PET/PETG blends were not toughened with the TPEg of 15 wt %, whereas after the transition, the PET/PETG blends with 15 wt % of TPEg, similar to the PETG/TPEg (85/15) binary blend, maintained a super-tough level. The impact-fractured surfaces of the PET/PETG/TPEg blends were also evaluated. When PETG content was lower than PET content, the ternary blend showed a brittle feature in its impact-fractured surface Similar to the PET/TPEg (85/15) binary blend. While PETG content exceeded PET content, however, the impact-fractured surface of the ternary blend was very similar to that of PETG/TPEg (85/15) binary blend, exhibiting intensive cavitation and massive matrix shear yielding, which were believed to be responsible for the super-tough level of the blends. (C) 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.