Joint Effect of Compatibilizer and Organo-Montmorillonite on Compatibilization of Polyamide-6/Poly(phenylene oxide) Blend: Morphology and Properties

Compatibilizer (styrene–maleic anhydride copolymer, SMA) and organo-montmorillonite (OMMT) were introduced into immiscible polyamide-6 (PA6)/ poly(phenylene oxide) (PPO) blend to obtain quaternary nanocomposites simply by melt extrusion. OMMT tactoids formed in PA6/PPO/OMMT ternary blend would become smaller or disappear with the addition of SMA. Besides, viscosity of SMA compatibilized PA6/PPO blend decreased a lot with the addition of OMMT. Based on these results, a mechanism for joint effect of SMA and OMMT in compatibilizing PA6 and PPO was proposed. We further studied water absorption and tensile properties of the nanocomposites, which were in consistent with the proposed mechanism.