Uniaxial Elongational Viscosities of Ethylene Ionomer / Styrene-co-Methacrylic Acid Blends

Abstract

The effects of non-neutralized carboxylic acid(-COOH) on strain hardening of EMAA-54Na and EMAA-59Zn ionomers blended with StMAA and PS were investigated. In case of EMAA-54Na/StMAA blend, unexpected strong strain hardening appeared. However, this tendency was not found to all other samples. It was considered that cause of unexpected phenomena of EMAA-54Na/StMAA blend came from strong interaction between EMAA-54Na and StMAA due to acid-cation exchange mechanism proposed by Vanhoorne et al. Further, it was considered that non-neutralized carboxylic acid(-COOH) was the new key to increase the intensity of strain hardening for EMAA-ionomers.