The Behavior of Polymeric Blends (PP + PA6) in Tensile Tests

This paper presents the influence of component concentration for a class of polymeric blends with different concentration of PP (polypropylene) and PA6 (polyamide 6) and a constant concentration of additives: CaCO3, LDPE (low density polyethylene) and a compatibilizer POLYBOND� 3200. Mechanical properties has been investigated for four different test speeds, from 10 mm/min to 1000 mm/min. Young�s modulus performs in a band between 1500...1900 MPa, except for the value for PA6 at the lowest testing speed (v=10 mm/min), that is 1444 MPa. At high concentration of PA6, there were noticed voids in the longitudinal direction of the samples, forming large parallel �empty channels�, as the two polymers are immiscible. Except for values at low testing speed, the average values for tensile stress at break perform in a band of less than 8 MPa. The elongation at break is less than 10% for all materials, except for PA6 at the lowest testing speed, when a higher value was obtained. The lowest values were obtained for the blend with 20% PA6. For blends with 60% and 80% PA6, the difference between values, at the same testing speed, is the smallest. Energy at break has a slightly increase with the concentration of PA6. From the mechanical point of view, among the formulated blends, material D (with 80% PA6) is the most promising as has the highest values for stress and energy at break (11.8 J at v=10 mm/min and 9.6 J at v=1000 mm/min), but values are still less than those for PA6.