Effect of organoclay incorporation and blending protocol on performance of PA6/ABS nanocomposites compatibilized with SANMA

The effect of organoclay incorporation and four different blending protocols on morphological, rheological, thermal, thermomechanical, and mechanical properties of PA6/ABS/SANMA/OMMT (55.0/35.0/5.0/5.0 wt%) nanocomposites was evaluated. As expected, even only with minor amounts of clay loading, significant reinforcement effect on mechanical and thermomechanical properties was achieved. Despite the morphological and structural similarities between studied compositions, it was found that mixing sequence might have great influence in mechanical properties, particularly in toughness. It is supposed that compatibilizing process though in situ reactions is much more efficient when PA6, ABS and SANMA are blended in the same extrusion step. Otherwise, when such condition is not satisfied, PA6/OMMT interactions seems to hamper the compatibilizing effect of SANMA, leading to inferior impact strength. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 57:1147–1154, 2017.