Influencia de la morfología en las propiedades de nanocompuestos de mezclas de polipropileno/polietileno metalocénico

in this work, the rheological, morphological and mechanical behaviors of nanocomposites based on blends of polypropylene and metallocene polyethylene (mpe), reinforced with organically modified montmorillonite and prepared through melt blending, are studied. two different compatibilizing agents were employed: a pp grafted with maleic anhydride (am) commercially available, and a pp grafted with the same monomer in our laboratory. the grafting degrees of both compatibilizers were determined through fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (ftir). additionally, the rheological properties in dynamic shear and the mechanical properties in tension of the composites were studied. the morphologies of the nanoparticles and of the dispersed phase were characterized using tem and sem microscopy, respectively. the compatibilizing agent prepared in our laboratory has a higher grafting degree than that of the commercial one. the dynamic rheological properties of the nanocomposites are higher than those of the corresponding analog blends, when mpe is at concentrations of 40%. both the nanocomposites and the blends without the layered clay exhibit a pseudosolid behavior at low frequencies. the obtained morphology of the clay particles is mainly intercalated. the nanocomposites compatibilized with the agent prepared in the laboratory exhibit a smaller particle size of the polymeric dispersed phase. the mechanical properties remained almost unchanged with the addition of the nanoparticles, whereas a reduction both in the young's modulus and in the tensile strength were obtained with the addition of the polymeric dispersed phase.