Blends of polyacetal and ethylene-octene elastomer: Mechanical, dynamic mechanical and morphological properties

Polyacetal (POM) and ethylene octene copolymer(EOC) elastomers form immiscible blends with extremely low compatibility. In order to improve the dispersion, stability and properties of these blends, dynamic vulcanization was carried out in a twin screw extruder using dicumyl peroxide. The tensile strength decreased with increase in % elongation at break for both blend systems. There was a drastic decrease in impact strength for unvulcanized blends as the elastomer content increased and this was attributed to the coalescence of the elastomer particles as their content increased. In the case of dynamically vulcanized blends there was a significant increase in impact strength as the levels of elastomer increased. Dynamic mechanical analysis has been carried out to investigate the effect of blend composition and dynamic vulcanization on dynamic mechanical parameters such as storage modulus, loss modulus and loss factor. The results indicate gross incompatibility of POM and EOC blends. However, dynamically vulcanized blends show better adhesion between component polymers. The morphological studies reveal that the particle size and coalescence of elastomer was significantly reduced in comparison to unvulcanized bends. The phase adhesion was improved by dynamic vulcanization. Hence, it was observed that dynamic vulcanization effectively improves the morphology of the blend system and enhances the properties of polyacetal.