Green synthesis of reactive copolymers in molten e-caprolactam solvent and their compatibilizing effects in PA10T/PPO blends

The environmentally-friendly preparation of compatibilizers, especially copolymers with reactive monomers, is essential for developing new polymer blends. In this study, molten e-caprolactam was used as a green solvent to copolymerize styrene with three types of reactive monomers, namely maleic anhydride (MAH), glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) and 3-isopropenyl-a,a-dimethylbenzyl isocyanate (TMI). The pure PS and the corresponding copolymers (PSM, PSG, and PST) had relatively high yields of 97.8%, 73.7%, 93.3%, and 96.3%, respectively. Moreover, these synthesized polymers were used as compatibilizers to modify the immiscible PA10T/PPO blends. PSM and PSG showed a positive effect in improving the compatibility of PA10T/PPO blends, reducing the size of PPO domains, and improving the mechanical properties. The long-term thermal stability of unmodified PA10T and PA10T/PPO blends was investigated. The color changes ( ?E) of PA10T, PA10T/PPO blends with the addition of pure PS, PSM, PSG, and PST changed to 46.9, 44.0, 45.2, 44.2, and 45.0 after 5 days of aging. The tensile strength retentions were 24.1%, 54.7%, 63.4%, 67.6%, and 60.0%, respectively. These results suggested that the synthesized PSG and its corresponding PA10T/PPO blend had excellent properties and great potential for the development of high-performance plastics.