Properties of poly(ethylene terephthalate) and maleic anhydride-grafted polypropylene blends by reactive processing

The properties of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) and polypropylene (PP) blends and PET/maleic anhydride‐grafted PP (MAgPP) reactive blends were investigated. Two blend systems were immiscible based on tan δ measured by dynamic mechanical analyzer (DMA). In case of PET/MAgPP blends, the reaction of ester groups of PET and MA sites on MAgPP occurred during melt mixing at 280°C for 30 min. The reaction was confirmed by a new peak between the glass transition temperatures of PET‐rich and MAgPP‐rich phase on tan δ curves, as well as from the rheological properties. From the morphology, the improvement of the dispersibility in PET/MAgPP reactive blends was observed. The modulus of PET/MAgPP blends was higher than that of PET/PP blends, and the strength of PET/MAgPP blends showed the good adhesion compared with the PET/PP blends. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 70: 389–395, 1998