Abstract
The improvement of mechanical properties of spherical silica particle-filled polyolefin were investigated using di-block polymer consisting of polyolefin unit and ethyl acrylate-acrylic acid copolymer unit. The silica particles were treated with a silane coupling agent having amino group. The amino group introduced on the particle surface was expected to react with the carboxyl group in the di-block polymer. The compounds were prepared by melt blending and the mechanical properties were evaluated by a tensile test. As a result, both fracture and yield stresses were improved by additioning of di-block polymer. However, it seemed that the effect was strongly dependent upon the additional order of the components during melt blending process. The higher effect was obtained in the procedure of which the silica particles were dispersed in the matrix previously, then di-block polymer was added in the system. And there was no change in the procedure by the opposite additional order. The polyolefin units in di-block polymers tend to assemble strongly each other strongly in the polyolefin matrix. Therefore, they hardly moved and localized at the particle/matrix. This seems to be the reason why the mechanical properties of the composite modified modified with di-block polymer were strongly affected by additional order during the melt blending process.
