Multifaceted property tailoring of polyamide 6 by blending miscible and immiscible components: ternary blends of polyamide 6/polyethylene terephthalate/phenol novolac

Abstract

Ternary polymer blends comprising miscible and immiscible components are examined to improve the mechanical properties of polyamide 6 (PA6) under humid and high-temperature conditions. Miscible polymers increase the glass transition temperature (T_g), owing to their strong inter-molecular interactions, while phase-separated immiscible polymers reinforce the physical properties of PA6 as filler materials. Ternary blends exhibit these combined miscible and immiscible component contributions. Thus, in this study, ternary blends comprising PA6, polyethylene terephthalate (PET, immiscible component), and phenol novolac (PN, miscible component) are prepared by melt mixing. The PA6 stiffness in the water-absorbed state is reinforced by PET. Moreover, the proposed PA6/PET/PN ternary blends exhibit higher T_g values and lower water absorption rates than those of the PA6/PET binary blend, owing to the PN contribution. The PET and PN contributions are achieved independently and can be controlled via the composition ratios of the component polymers. Multifaceted property tailoring is thus demonstrated.