Improvement of Mechanical Strength of Polyolefin Elastomer/Polystyrene Blends using High-Intensity Ultrasound

The effect of high-intensity ultrasound on blends of polyolefin elastomer (POE) and polystyrene (PS) was investigated. The POE/PS blend was prepared using a melt mixer equipped with an ultrasonic irradiation device, and the rheological behavior, mechanical properties, morphology, spectroscopic analysis were evaluated using a rheometer, universal testing machine (UTM), scanning electron microscope (SEM), and infrared spectrometer (IR), respectively. The physical properties of the blend varied according to the sonication time, and when the ultrasound was irradiated for 10 seconds, the mechanical strength showed a marked increase. This was judged to be because the copolymer generated by high-intensity ultrasound improved the interfacial adhesion between the phases in the POE/PS blends. Through this, it is thought that only a short time irradiation of high-intensity ultrasound to the immiscible POE/PS blends will be very helpful in improving the mechanical properties.