ABSTRACT
In this work, natural rubber (NR) was masticated using an internal mixer to fit the requirements of reactive blending with polylactide and characterized by size exclusion chromatography (SEC), Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy and dynamic rheology measurements. Subsequently, the effect of elevated temperatures (25 °C, 80 °C, and 170 °C) on the electron beam (EB) induced crosslinking and degradation of masticated natural rubber (mNR) in a nitrogen atmosphere without adding crosslinking agents has been investigated. The sol gel investigation showed that the gel dose of mNR slightly increased with increasing irradiation temperature, which is also confirmed by the swelling test. The chain scission to crosslinking ratio (Gs/Gx) was found to be less than 1 for irradiated mNR at 25 °C and 80 °C, suggesting a dominating crosslinking behavior of mNR. However, a significant increase of Gs/Gx ratio (~1.12) was observed for mNR irradiated at 170 °C due to the enhanced thermal degradation behavior at high temperature. A remarkably improved elasticity (higher complex viscosity, higher storage modulus, and longer relaxation time) for EB modified mNR was demonstrated by dynamic rheological analysis. Particularly, the samples modified at higher temperatures represented more pronounced elasticity behavior which resulted from the higher number of branches and/or the longer branched chains.
ABSTRACT
Continuous glass fiber-reinforced polypropylene composites produced by using hybrid yarns show reduced fiber-to-matrix adhesion in comparison to their thermosetting counterparts. Their consolidation involves no curing, and the chemical reactions are limited to the glass fiber surface, the silane coupling agent, and the maleic anhydride-grafted polypropylene. This paper investigates the impact of electron beam crosslinkable toughened polypropylene, alkylene-functionalized single glass fibers, and electron-induced grafting and crosslinking on the local interfacial shear strength and critical energy release rate in single glass fiber polypropylene model microcomposites. A systematic comparison of non-, amino-, alkyl-, and alkylene-functionalized single fibers in virgin, crosslinkable toughened and electron beam crosslinked toughened polypropylene was done in order to study their influence on the local interfacial strength parameters. In comparison to amino-functionalized single glass fibers in polypropylene/maleic anhydride-grafted polypropylene, an enhanced local interfacial shear strength (+20%) and critical energy release rate (+80%) were observed for alkylene-functionalized single glass fibers in electron beam crosslinked toughened polypropylene.
