Study of Polypropylene/Polyethylene Terephthalate Blend Fibres Compatibilized with Glycidyl Methacrylate

In this study, polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) were blended using a single screw extruder and then fibre formation was carried out through the spinneret. The effects of PET content and PP-g-GMA as a compatibilizer were also investigated. The morphology and mechanical properties of uncompatibilized and compatibilized PP/PET fibres were comprehensively assessed utilizing scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and tensile experiments. Likewise, the drawabilities of both compatibilized and uncompatibilized systems using hot and cold methods were evaluated. It was observed that the optimum fibrillar distributed morphology would be achieved at 8 wt% of PET. Furthermore, addition of compatibilizer showed no significant morphology changes and mechanical performance improvement, although applying 3.5 wt% PP-g-GMA would result in higher crystallinity in fibres due to the nucleating effect of compatibilizer in these blends. However, the total results suggest that the fibre blend system would be improved using suitable amount of compatibilizer with proper grafting of GMA onto PP. Finally, in order to investigate the effect of compatibilizer, a sample of PP/PET blend was compatibilized with PP-g-MA as well. Mechanical properties data have shown that the PP/PET blend compatibilized with PP-g-GMA has a significant performance compared to other systems.