Toughening effect of ethylene‐vinyl acetate rubber on nylon 1010 compatibilized by maleated ethylene‐vinyl acetate copolymers

The toughening effect of ethylene‐vinyl acetate rubbers (EVM) with maleated ethylene‐vinyl acetate copolymers (EVA‐g‐MAH) on the nylon 1010 was investigated. The addition of 5 phr (per hundred nylon 1010) EVM increased the elongation at break of nylon 1010 to a great extent. The notched Izod impact strength of nylon/EVM blends increased with increasing EVM content. Scanning electron microscope showed that the EVM particle size was around 0.5 μm when the EVM content was 5 phr and increased with increasing EVM content. After the addition of EVA‐g‐MAH to nylon/EVM (100/20) blend, the average diameter of EVM particles decreased from more than 1 μm to 0.5–0.6 μm. EVA‐g‐MAH could improve the adhesion between nylon 1010 and EVM. A sharp brittle‐ductile transition (BDT) was observed when the interparticle distance was about 0.2 μm, independent of the addition of EVA‐g‐MAH. The notched Izod impact strength of nylon/EVM blends at low temperatures was measured and the BDT shifted toward low temperatures with increasing EVM or EVA‐g‐MAH content. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 47: 434–444, 2009     

Studies on fracture behaviors of immiscible polypropylene/ethylene‐co‐vinyl acetate blends with multiwalled carbon nanotubes

Immiscible polypropylene/ethylene‐co‐vinyl acetate (PP/EVA) blends with two different compositions, one (PP/EVA = 80/20) exhibits the typical sea‐island morphology and the other (PP/EVA = 60/40) exhibits the cocontinuous morphology, were prepared with different contents of f‐MWCNTs. The fracture behaviors, including notched Izod impact fracture and single‐edge notched tensile (SENT) fracture, were comparatively studied to establish the role of f‐MWCNTs in influencing the fracture toughness of PP/EVA blends. Our results showed that, for PP/EVA (80/20) system, f‐MWCNTs do not induce the fracture behavior change apparently. However, for PP/EVA (60/40) system, the fracture toughness of the blend increases dramatically with the increasing of f‐MWCNTs content. More severe plastic deformation accompanied by the fibrillar structure formation was observed during the SENT test. Furthermore, SENT test shows that the significant improvement in fracture toughness of PP/EVA (60/40) with f‐MWCNTs is contributed to the simultaneous enhancement of crack initiation energy and crack propagation energy, but largely dominated by crack propagation stage. Further results based on crystalline structures and morphologies of the blends showed that a so‐called dual‐network structure of EVA and f‐MWCNTs forms in cocontinuous PP/EVA blends, which is thought to be the main reason for the largely improved fracture toughness of the sample. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 47: 1331–1344, 2009     

Effect of the liquid–liquid phase separation on the crystallization behavior and mechanical properties of poly(ethylene‐ran‐vinyl acetate) and paraffin wax blend

The effect of liquid–liquid phase‐separation (LLPS) on the crystallization behavior and mechanical properties of poly(ethylene‐ran‐vinyl acetate) (EVA) with various amounts of vinyl acetate and paraffin wax blend was investigated. The blend of EVA‐H (9.5% vinyl acetate) and the wax became homogeneous at temperatures greater than its upper critical solution temperature (UCST) (98°C), and an LLPS was observed between UCST and the melting point of 88°C for EVA‐H in the blend. The existence of the LLPS is attributed to the relatively large amount of the hydrophilic component of vinyl acetate in EVA, although the molecular weight of the wax was just 560. However, LLPS did not occur for the EVA/wax blend when the content of vinyl acetate in EVA was less than 3%. This behavior was explained by using the Flory–Huggins lattice model with an effective interaction parameter. The degree of crystallinity of EVA‐H in the EVA‐H/wax blend, judged from a melting endothermic peak in differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) thermograms obtained during heating runs, decreased with increasing duration time in the LLPS region. The flexural modulus of the EVA/wax blend became maximum at certain blend composition (about 30 ∼ 40 wt % EVA depending upon the amount of vinyl acetate). This behavior can be explained by the fact that this blend composition has the largest relative degree of crystallinity of EVA measured by DSC and wide‐angle X‐ray scattering method. We found that the flexural modulus of the binder itself is directly related to that of a feedstock consisting of larger amounts of metal powder and the binder, which can help someone to develop a suitable binder system for a powder injection molding process. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci B: Polym Phys 37: 1991–2005, 1999     

Effect of the liquid–liquid phase separation on the crystallization behavior of a poly(ethylene‐ran‐vinyl acetate) and paraffin wax blend

The effect of liquid–liquid phase separation (LLPS) on the crystallization behavior of poly(ethylene‐ran‐vinyl acetate) with a vinyl acetate content of 9.5 wt % (EVA‐H) in the critical composition of a 35/65 (wt/wt) EVA‐H/paraffin wax blend was investigated by small‐angle light and X‐ray scattering methods and rheometry. This blend exhibited an upper critical solution temperature (UCST) of 98°C, and an LLPS was observed between the UCST and the melting point of 88°C for the EVA‐H in the blend. As the duration time in the LLPS region increased before crystallization at 65°C, both the spherulite size and the crystallization rate of the EVA‐H increased, but the degree of the lamellar ordering in the spherulite and the degree of crystallinity of the EVA‐H in the blend decreased. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci B: Polym Phys 38: 707–715, 2000     

Effects of functionalized multiwalled carbon nanotubes on the morphologies and mechanical properties of PP/EVA blend

The maleic anhydride‐grafted multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs‐g‐MA) have been introduced into polypropylene/ethylene‐co‐vinyl acetate (PP/EVA) blend. To clearly describe the effects of MWCNTs‐g‐MA on the morphology and mechanical properties of PP/EVA blends, the selective distribution of MWCNTs‐g‐MA in the blends is realized through different sample preparation methods, namely, MWCNTs‐g‐MA disperse in EVA phase and MWCNTs‐g‐MA disperse in PP matrix. The results show that the distribution of MWCNTs‐g‐MA has an important effect on the final morphology of EVA and the crystallization structure of PP matrix. Compared with PP/EVA binary blend, distribution of MWCNTs‐g‐MA in PP matrix induces the aggregation of EVA phase at high EVA content and the decrease of spherulite diameters of PP matrix simultaneously. However, when MWCNTs‐g‐MA are dispersed in the EVA phase, they induce more homogeneous distribution of EVA, and the crystallization behavior of PP is slightly affected by MWCNTs‐g‐MA. The corresponding mechanical properties including impact strength and tensile strength are tested and analyzed in the work. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 47: 1481–1491, 2009     

Dynamic mechanical behavior of acrylonitrile butadiene rubber/poly(ethylene‐co‐vinyl acetate) blends

The dynamic mechanical behavior of uncrosslinked (thermoplastic) and crosslinked (thermosetting) acrylonitrile butadiene rubber/poly(ethylene‐co‐vinyl acetate) (NBR/EVA) blends was studied with reference to the effect of blend ratio, crosslinking systems, frequency, and temperature. Different crosslinked systems were prepared using peroxide (DCP), sulfur, and mixed crosslink systems. The glass‐transition behavior of the blends was affected by the blend ratio, the nature of crosslinking, and frequency. sThe damping properties of the blends increased with NBR content. The variations in tan δ_max were in accordance with morphology changes in the blends. From tan δ values of peroxide‐cured NBR, EVA, and blends the crosslinking effect of DCP was more predominant in NBR. The morphology of the uncrosslinked blends was examined using scanning electron and optical microscopes. Cocontinuous morphology was observed between 40 and 60 wt % of NBR. The particle size distribution curve of the blends was also drawn. The Arrhenius relationship was used to calculate the activation energy for the glass transition of the blends, and it decreased with an increase in the NBR content. Various theoretical models were used to predict the modulus of the blends. From wide‐angle X‐ray scattering studies, the degree of crystallinity of the blends decreased with an increasing NBR content. The thermal behavior of the uncrosslinked and crosslinked systems of NBR/EVA blends was analyzed using a differential scanning calorimeter. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 40: 1556–1570, 2002     

Fracture toughness of nylon‐6 blends with maleated rubbers

The fracture toughness of blends of nylon‐6 with maleated ethylene–propylene rubber and maleated styrene/hydrogenated butadiene/styrene triblock copolymer was investigated with a single‐edge‐notched three‐point‐bending instrumented Dynatup test. The blends for which the rubber particle size was less than 0.7 μm fractured in a ductile manner over the whole range of ligament lengths, whereas the blends with particles larger than 0.7 μm showed a ductile‐to‐brittle transition with the ligament length. In this regime, ductile fracture was observed for specimens with short ligaments, whereas brittle fracture was seen for those with long ligaments. The ductile fracture behavior was analyzed with the essential‐work‐of‐fracture model, whereas linear elastic fracture mechanics techniques were used to analyze the brittle fracture behavior. The fact that the ductile fracture energy was larger for the blends with the styrene/hydrogenated butadiene/styrene triblock copolymer than for those with ethylene–propylene rubber was due to the larger dissipative energy density of the blends based on the styrene/hydrogenated butadiene/styrene triblock copolymer. Both the critical strain energy release rate (G_IC) and the plane‐strain critical stress intensity factor (K_IC) increased as the rubber particle size decreased for both blend systems. The G_IC and K_IC parameters had similar values, regardless of the rubber type, when the rubber particle size was fixed. The transition ligament length was near the size criterion for plane‐strain conditions for both blend systems. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 42: 1739–1758, 2004     

Nonisothermal crystallization kinetics and determination of surface‐folding free energy of PP/EVA/OMMT nanocomposites

Crystalline structures, nonisothermal crystallization behavior and surface folding free energy of polypropylene (PP)/poly(ethylene‐co‐vinyl acetate) (EVA) blend‐based organically modified montmorillonite (OMMT) nanocomposites were investigated by use of wide angle X‐ray scattering (WAXS) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) techniques. Nonisothermal crystallization kinetic analysis was performed using Avrami equation modified by Jeziorny as well as combined Avrami‐Ozawa method. Surface folding free energy and activation energy for PP and nanocomposite samples were also determined employing Hoffman‐Lauritzen's and Vyazovkins's approaches, respectively. The results obtained from transmission electron microscopy (TEM) showed that presence of EVA, which attracts most of the layered silicates, reduces number density of heterogeneous nuclei in the matrix and as a consequence, decreases the nucleation rate. Incorporation of EVA, PP‐g‐MA and OMMT results in a decrease of the chain surface folding free energy level. It was shown that although, OMMT acts as a barrier against the PP macromolecular motion but interestingly, it increases the overall crystallization rate. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 47: 674–684, 2009     

Transport properties of crosslinked acrylonitrile butadiene rubber/poly(ethylene‐co‐vinyl acetate) blends

The diffusion and transport of organic solvents through crosslinked nitrile rubber/poly(ethylene‐co‐vinyl acetate) (NBR/EVA) blends have been studied. The diffusion of cyclohexanone through these blends was studied with special reference to blend composition, crosslinking systems, fillers, filler loading, and temperature. At room temperature the mechanism of diffusion was found to be Fickian for cyclohexanone–NBR/EVA blend systems. However, a deviation from the Fickian mode of diffusion is observed at higher temperature. The transport coefficients, namely, intrinsic diffusion coefficient (D*), sorption coefficient (S), and permeation coefficient (P) increase with the increase in NBR content. The sorption data have been used to estimate the activation energies for permeation and diffusion. The van't Hoff relationship was used to determine the thermodynamic parameters. The affine and phantom models for chemical crosslinks were used to predict the nature of crosslinks. The experimental results were compared with the theoretical predictions. The influence of penetrants transport was studied using dichloromethane, chloroform, and carbon tetrachloride. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci B: Polym Phys 37: 1815–1831, 1999     

The role of interfacial modifier in toughening of nylon 6 with a core‐shell toughener

The effects of nylon 6 matrix viscosity and a multifunctional epoxy interfacial modifier on the notched impact strength of the blends of nylon 6 with a maleic anhydride modified polyethylene‐octene elastomer/semi‐crystalline polyolefin blend (TPEg) were studied by means of morphological observation, and mechanical and rheological tests. Because the viscosity of the TPEg is much higher than that of nylon 6, an increase in the viscosity of nylon 6 reduces the viscosity mismatch between the dispersed phase and the matrix, and increases notched impact strength of the blends. Moreover, addition of 0.3 to 0.9 phr of the interfacial modifier leads to a finer dispersion of the TPEg and greatly improves the notched impact strength of the nylon 6/TPEg blends. This is because the multi‐epoxy interfacial modifier can react with nylon 6 and the maleated TPEg. The reaction with nylon 6 increases the viscosity of the matrix while the coupling reaction at the interface between nylon 6 and the maleated TPEg leads to better compatibilization. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci B: Polym Phys 37: 2664–2672, 1999     

Grafting of polycaprolactone onto poly(ethylene‐co‐vinyl alcohol) and application to polyethylene‐based bioerodable blends

Poly(ethylene‐co‐vinyl acetate) (EVA) powders containing 10 and 20 wt % of vinyl acetate (VAc) units was saponified in ethanol/KOH solution in a heterogeneous manner. Intermolecular interaction between vinyl alcohol(VOH) units in the produced poly(ethylene‐co‐vinyl alcohol) (EVOH) promoted the crystallization of intervening segments composed of ethylene units. Ring opening polymerization of caprolactone (CL) in the presence of EVOH gave EVOH‐g‐PCL graft copolymers with relatively short chain branches. Even though the graft copolymerization was carried out in a homogeneous solution, all the VOH units were not equally reactive for the PCL grafting. And the unreacted VOH units decreased very slowly with the graft copolymerization time. EVOH‐g‐PCL decreased the domain size of the dispersed phase in low density polyethylene (PE)/biodegradable master batch (MB) blends, and thus increased their tensile properties significantly. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 40: 2561–2569, 2002     

Selective distribution,reinforcement, and toughening roles of MWCNTs in immiscible polypropylene/ethylene‐co‐vinyl acetate blends

Polypropylene/ethylene‐co‐vinyl acetate (PP/EVA) nanocomposites with functionalized multiwalled carbon nanotubes (FMWCNTs) have been prepared. The dissolution experiment, transmission electronic microscope, and scanning electronic microscope characterizations prove that, in the nanocomposites with sea–island morphology, although some FMWCNTs are observed in both PP and EVA phases, most of FMWCNTs distribute at the interface; however, in the nanocomposites with cocontinuous morphology, FMWCNTs mainly distribute in EVA phase. Further results based on (differential scanning calorimetry) measurements show that the different dispersion states of FMWCNTs, which are resulted by the different melt blending sequences, result in the different crystallization behaviors of PP matrix. The mechanical measurements show that FMWCNTs exhibit apparent reinforcement and toughening effects for immiscible PP/EVA blends, and such effects are greatly dependent upon the blending sequences. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 48: 1882–1892, 2010     

Electrically conductive,melt‐processed ternary blends of polyaniline/dodecylbenzene sulfonic acid,ethylene/vinyl acetate,and low‐density polyethylene

Although polyaniline (PANI) has high conductivity and relatively good environmental and thermal stability and is easily synthesized, the intractability of this intrinsically conducting polymer with a melting procedure prevents extensive applications. This work was designed to process PANI with a melting blend method with current thermoplastic polymers. PANI in an emeraldine base form was plasticized and doped with dodecylbenzene sulfonic acid (DBSA) to prepare a conductive complex (PANI–DBSA). PANI–DBSA, low‐density polyethylene (LDPE), and an ethylene/vinyl acetate copolymer (EVA) were blended in a twin‐rotor mixer. The blending procedure was monitored, including the changes in the temperature, torque moment, and work. As expected, the conductivity of ternary PANI–DBSA/LDPE/EVA was higher by one order of magnitude than that of binary PANI–DBSA/LDPE, and this was attributed to the PANI–DBSA phase being preferentially located in the EVA phase. An investigation of the morphology of the polymer blends with high‐resolution optical microscopy indicated that PANI–DBSA formed a conducting network at a high concentration of PANI–DBSA. The thermal and crystalline properties of the polymer blends were measured with differential scanning calorimetry. The mechanical properties were also measured. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 42: 3750–3758, 2004     

Toughening of nylon‐6 with epoxy‐functionalized acrylonitrile‐butadiene‐styrene copolymer

Glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) functionalized acrylonitrile‐butadiene‐styrene (ABS) copolymers have been prepared via an emulsion polymerization process. The epoxy‐functionalized ABS (e‐ABS) particles were used to toughen nylon‐6. Molau tests and FTIR results showed the reactions between nylon‐6 and e‐ABS have taken place. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) displayed the compatibilization reaction between epoxy groups of e‐ABS and nylon‐6 chain ends (amine or carboxyl groups), which improve disperse morphology of e‐ABS in the nylon‐6 matrix. The presence of only a small amount of GMA (1 wt %) within the e‐ABS copolymer was sufficient to induce a pronounced improvement of the impact strength of nylon‐6 blends; whereas further increase of the GMA contents in e‐ABS resulted in lower impact strength because of the crosslinking reaction between nylon‐6 and e‐ABS, resulting in agglomeration of the ABS particles. SEM results showed shear yielding of the nylon‐6 matrix and cavitation of rubber particles were the major toughening mechanisms. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 43: 2170–2180, 2005     

Migration of nanosilica particles in polymer blends

Hydrophilic pyrogenic silica melt mixed in immiscible polypropylene/poly (ethylene‐co‐vinyl acetate) (PP/EVA) blend was found to migrate from the PP matrix to the EVA dispersed domains and remained confined inside them. Surprisingly, it was shown than silica was also able to migrate from a dispersed PP phase to an EVA matrix but this transfer was slower and not complete. The same silica with a hydrophobic surface treatment moved and accumulated to the blend interface and in PP. The mechanisms from which this migration proceeds are discussed. Whereas self diffusion of the particles was shown to have almost no effect, shear induced movements and collisions with dispersed drops is believed to be the most efficient mechanism. The possible trapping of silica aggregates during droplet–droplet coalescence was impossible to observe but is thought to be a possible additional mechanism. No quantification on the relative importance of the latter phenomenon can be drawn at the moment. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 46: 1976–1983, 2008     

Reactive melt blends of thermoplastic polyolefins,MAH‐g‐PP and nylon 6

Reactive melt blends of an ethylene‐propylene‐diene terpolymer (EPDM) based thermoplastic elastomer (TPE), maleic anhydride grafted polypropylene (MAH‐g‐PP), and nylon 6 were prepared in a single screw extruder and evaluated in terms of morphological, rheological, thermal, dynamic mechanical, and mechanical properties of the blends. It was found that MAH‐g‐PP‐co‐nylon 6 copolymers were in situ formed and acted as effective compatibilizers for polypropylene (PP) and nylon 6. Phase separation of PP and EPDM in TPE increased with the addition and increasing amount of MAH‐g‐PP and nylon 6, leading to decreased glass transition temperature (T_g) of TPE and increased crystalline melting temperature (T_m) of PP. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Control of droplet size of polymer–diluent blends through thermally induced phase separation

The effects of process conditions and molecular structure of polymer and diluent on the droplet size of membranes formed by thermally induced phase separatiom (TIPS) process were examined. The observed upper critical solution temperature–type phase boundaries of nylon‐12 blended with poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) and nylon 12 diluted with poly(ethylene glycol) dimethyl ether (PEGDE) and their interaction energy densities calculated using the Flory–Huggins theory suggest that the nylon‐12/PEGDE blends are less stable than the nylon‐12–PEG blends. Infrared spectra confirmed that the difference in phase stability might come from specific interactions of the hydroxyl terminal groups of PEG with the amide groups from nylon‐12, which are not be feasible in the nylon‐12–PEGDE blends. The phase stability of diluent PEG blended with various nylons that are different in the number of methyl groups in the repeat unit was ranked in the order of: nylon‐6–PEG blend < nylon‐12–PEG blend < nylon‐11–PEG blend. We also noted that the phase‐separated droplets grew by both coalescence and the Oswald ripening process after the onset of phase separation. As a result, the cubic exponent of average droplet radius (R³) plotted against time satisfied the linear relationship. As the blends became less stable, the droplet growth rate increased and larger equilibrium droplets formed at a constant quenching depth. The TIPS membranes with desired pore structure could be prepared by controlling the molecular structure of components as well as by varying processing conditions such as quenching depth and annealing time. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci B: Polym Phys 38: 3042–3052, 2000     

Molecular transport of aromatic hydrocarbons through nylon‐6/ethylene propylene rubber blends: Relationship between phase morphology and transport characteristics

Molecular transport of aromatic hydrocarbons through nylon/ethylene propylene rubber (EPR) blend has been investigated in the temperature range of 25 to 65 °C. The effect of blend ratio on the transport behavior was studied in detail. Nylon/EPR‐50/50 blend shows the lowest uptake among all the systems studied. This behavior is related to blend morphology, density, and crystallinity of the blend composition. The transport property was correlated with the extent of interfacial adhesion in the blends. The effects of temperature and penetrant size on the sorption behavior were examined. Thermodynamic and Arrhenius parameters were evaluated from the diffusion data. Theoretical and experimental diffusion results were compared. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci B: Polym Phys 38: 2136–2153, 2000     

Effect of EVA copolymer containing different VA content on the thermal and rheological properties of bio-based high-density polyethylene/ethylene vinyl acetate blends

The effect of ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) concentration and vinyl acetate (VA) content of EVA on the mechanical, morphological, and rheological properties of bio-based high-density polyethylene (BioPE)/EVA blends was investigated. The blends were characterized by X-ray diffraction, differential scanning calorimetry, scanning electron microscopy, and rheological measurements under oscillatory shear flow. The degree of crystallinity of BioPE decreased with the increase in the EVA concentration and was unaffected with the increase in the VA content. DMTA results showed a decrease in the storage modulus (E′) with the increase in EVA content and that the BioPE/EVA19 blends showed higher E′ values than BioPE/EVA28 blend. The impact strength substantially increased with the addition of EVA concentration above 5 mass% and was higher for the blends containing the highest VA content. The blends containing a higher content of VA exhibited the higher EVA dispersed phase domain size, which increased with the increase in EVA concentration. The complex viscosity increased with the increase in the EVA content, being higher for the BioPE/EVA blends containing higher VA content. The storage modulus increased, at low frequencies, with the increase in the EVA content and can be ascribed to the increase in the EVA dispersed phase domain size.

     

Crystal and phase morphology of dynamic-packing-injection-molded high-density polyethylene/ethylene vinyl acetate blends

The effect of shear stress, provided by so-called dynamic-packing injection molding, on crystal morphology and phase behavior was investigated for high-density polyethylene (HDPE) in blends with ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) of various viscosities and vinyl acetate (VA) contents, with the aid of differential scanning calorimetry, two-dimensional small-angle X-ray scattering (2D SAXS), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). A shish-kebab pattern was found in the oriented zones of dynamic samples, and the ratio of shish to kebab increased as a function of the EVA content in the blends up to 20 wt %, regardless of the VA content. This showed that molecules of HDPE could easily be stretched to form a shish structure in the presence of EVA. Moreover, a large increase in the long spacing, characterized by 2D SAXS measurements, was achieved because of the presence of EVA. The SEM results showed an obvious decrease in the domain size of the EVA phase under the effect of shear stress. All these results suggested shear-induced mixing between HDPE and EVA, in that ethylene segments of EVA molecules could be forged in the shish structure during shear and the other fractions of EVA were located in the amorphous regions between the adjacent lamellae of HDPE. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 42: 1831–1840, 2004