Reactive Blending of Polyamide 6 and Styrene−Acrylonitrile Copolymer: Influence of Blend Composition and Compatibilizer Concentration on Morphology and Rheology

In this article, we report on the influence of reactive compatibilization on the morphological and rheological properties of blends of polyamide 6 (PA 6) and a styrene−acrylonitrile copolymer (SAN). PA 6/SAN blends with two different composition ratios (70/30 and 30/70) and varying concentration of a styrene acrylonitrile maleic anhydride terpolymer (SANMA) were prepared. During melt mixing, the amino end groups of PA 6 react with the maleic anhydride groups of SANMA. The objective of this work is to study the elastic and viscous properties of the blends in shear and elongation as a function of compatibilizer concentration. The composition ratio of the blends (PA 6 or SAN matrix) has a strong influence on the morphology and rheology of the blends, in particular for large SANMA concentrations. We explain this phenomenon by the asymmetric properties of the reactively compatibilized interface which originates from the comblike architecture of the in situ generated interfacial agent. In linear viscoelastic sh...