Study on the toughening mechanism of PP/EVA dynamically crosslinked blend

The toughening mechanism of polypropylene (PP)/ethylene-co-vinyl acetate (EVA) dynamically crosslinked blend was investigated. The results indicated that dynamical crosslinking technology not only improved the interfacial adhesion between PP and EVA, but also increased the mechanical properties of PP/EVA blend. The quantitative and qualitative analysis of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) micrographs demonstrated that dynamical crosslinking technology could refine EVA particles in PP/EVA blend and promote the size distribution of EVA particles. The critical matrix ligament thickness of dynamically crosslinked and uncrosslinked blend was about 0.55 μm and 0.6 μm, respectively, indicating that the brittle-ductile transition occurred. Dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) results illustrated that the tan δ peak of PP component in the dynamically crosslinked blend moved toward lower temperature compared with that of pure PP and the PP component in uncrosslinked blend; and the tan δ value of the dynamically crosslinked blend was higher than that of the uncrosslinked blend, which interpreted the toughening mechanism of dynamical crosslinking technology from the dynamic mechanical property of the blend.