Structure-Properties of PPE Alloy by Reactive Blending

Poly(phenylene ether) (PPE) is a high temperature polymer (Tg=210°C). Neat PPE is hardly melt-processed below its thermal decomposition temperature. It is believed that the melt-processability is only achieved by blending with polystyrene as a polymeric plasticizer. The polymeric plasticizer sacrifices the heat resistance; the Tg decreases almost linearly with polystyrene content. We found that PPE can react with poly(ethylene-co-glycidylmethacrylate) (EGMA) by melt mixing. Reactive blending of PPE with EGMA yielded an excellent engineering plastic with nice melt-processability, even when a small amount of EGMA (e.g., 5 wt%) was incorporated. The injection molded parts showed high impact strength, high temperature resistance, high tensile strength, and low dielectric loss. It can be classified as a super-engineering plastics. The computer simulation based on a particle-slip model revealed why the melt-processability is attained by the incorporation of polyolefin in pure PPE matrix.