#compatibilizer

The inluences of incorporating compatibilizers E-EA-MAH, E-MA-GMA, E-AM, SEBS KRATON G, or PP-g-MAH on the thermal properties of mixed (polypropylene/ethylene propylene rubber)/acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (PP/EPR)/ABS have been investigated. It has been shown that the mixture of polypropylene and ABS is not sufficiently stable. This instability has referred to an incompatibility between these two copolymers. Thus, in this study, to improve this behavior, we introduce the compatibilizing agents mentioned above. They are all from commerce. The objective for each mixture developed in this study is to have a composite material with optimal thermal stability. The temperature range explored for all of our mixes ranges from -100°C to 200°C (increase of 10°C/min or decrease of -10°C/min), by two sweeps back and forth with delays of two minutes at the limits of this interval. DSC investigations have revealed that the incorporation of 5% of ABS in the copolymer (PP/EPR) does not fundamentally affect the thermal properties of the basic copolymer; additionally, the addition of 1.5% of each of the compatibilizers in the basic mixture does not significantly alter the crystallization temperature values and the melting of the -P- sequences. Here is a variation of melting enthalpy values of the -P- sequences of 18.23% using SEBS KRATON G and of 10.38% using E-AM-GMA. When the rate of each of the compatibilizers increases to 5%, overall crystallization enthalpies of -P- sequences are almost kept unchanged, except for the case of using the compatibilizer E-AM-GMA with a variation of 8.42%. Here is a minor variation of the melting enthalpy of -P- sequences with higher levels of compatibilizer. He incorporation of 5% ABS copolymer in the PP/EPR does not significantly alter the thermal properties of the basic structure of (PP/EPR)/ABS.

Author(s) Details

 Dr. Noah Pierre Marcel Anicet Laboratory of Mechanics, ENSET, University of Douala, P.O.Box 1872, Douala, Cameroon and Department of Mechanical Engineering, ENSET, University of Douala, P.O.Box 1872, Douala, Cameroon.

Authored by Ahmad AdlieShamsuri  

Opinion

The development of the polymer composites industry has been very encouraging in the past years. The polymer blends have also been received considerable attention, this is due to the blends are easy to prepare, their production cost is low, and so on. At the present time, bioplastics such as polylactic acid, polyhydroxybutyrate and polybutylene succinate are gaining consideration due to their excellent biodegradability, biocompatibility and non-toxicity. Blend between bioplastics and biopolymers (for example; cellulose, zein and starch) to produce bioplastic/biopolymer blends have attracted the researchers’ interest. Besides, the produced bioplastic/biopolymer blends may also be able to be used in fabrication of biocompatible and biodegradable products. Moreover, the utilization of expensive synthetic bioplastics can be reduced through consumption of biopolymers this can further lower the cost of products [1,2].

Nevertheless, the blend approach suffers from low physicochemical properties due to incompatibility in the blends system. The compatibility between the bioplastic and biopolymer is very low, thus results in reductions of their performance, particularly in the mechanical, thermal and rheological properties. The incompatibility is due to the bioplastic which wholly non-polar (hydrophobic) [3], while the biopolymer is naturally polar (hydrophilic) [4], and therefore the importance of compatibilization on the blends could not be ignored.

In response to this, the compatibilization methods by using compatibilizers were frequently carried out to compatibilize between two different polymers particularly for a better adhesion at their interface [5]. Previous reports have indicated that the organic salts such as surface-active agents (surfactants) could also be used as compatibilizers in polymeric blend and composite systems specifically for non-polar and polar polymers [6-8]. This is due to the fact that the surfactants have amphiphilic character which contained of non-polar and polar parts (hydrophobic and hydrophilic groups) [9,10] that capable to compatibilize between non-polar and polar polymers [11]. Thus, they could provide compatibility between the component phases of bioplastic and biopolymer in the blends system.

On the other hand, ionic liquids (ILs) are known as organic salts that have low melting temperature (<100°C). ILs are non-volatile, highly polar and stable, miscible and soluble with many organic and/or inorganic compounds, chemically inert as well. ILs are also non-toxic, recyclable, non-flammable and eco-friendly [12]. The use of ionic liquid-based surfactants (ILBS) for compatibilization seems to be remarkable because they have fascinating feature i.e. low melting temperature compared to ordinary surfactants, this could increase the compatibilization efficiency.

Additionally, among several types of ILBS, 1-dodecyl-3-methylimidazolium-based ILs can be employed for experimentation since they have some valuable characters for instance; consisted of single long alkyl chain (effective for the hydrophobic-hydrophobic interaction), environmentally friendly, low melting temperature, low toxicity and most importantly they are also thermally stable.

It is expected that the ILBS will improve the physicochemical properties (mechanical, thermal, rheological, etc.) of the polymer blends since they have amphiphilic character which can act as interaction link between non-polar (hydrophobic) and polar (hydrophilic) polymers, and they can assist them to interact with each other as well. It is also anticipated to benefit the industries that are interested to utilize both bioplastics and biopolymers in their products because this approach does not require any modifications of the polymers.

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